Page 15 - GLNG Week 43 2020

GLNG EUROPE GLNG

Enagas, Edison team up for

small-scale Italian LNG supply

PROJECTS & SPANISH gas infrastructure operator Enagas the development of solid logistics chains from
COMPANIES has joined Italian firm Edison’s project to build our terminals, and will promote, in accordance
a small-scale LNG plant in Ravenna in northern with EU directives, the implementation of sus-
Italy, the companies said on October 23. The pair tainable mobility thanks to LNG in the Mediter-
have also agreed to work together in developing ranean,” Enagas CEO Marcelino Oreja said in a
an LNG supply chain from Enagas’ Mediterra- statement.
nean terminals, in particular its facility in Barce- Edison in November 2018 signed a long-term
lona, to Edison’s customers. agreement with shipowner Knutsen for the char-
Edison, owned by French energy giant EDF, tering of a 30,000 cubic metre LNG supply vessel
has agreed to transfer a 19% stake in the LNG to serve the Ravenna plant.
project’s operator Depositi Italiani GNL to Ena- The use of LNG as a transport fuel is on the
gas. Depositi Italiani GNL was set up as a joint rise in Europe, as more companies view it as a
venture between Edison and Petrolifera Italo solution for curbing emissions. Unlike more
Rumena (PIR) in 2018. conventional fuels, LNG produces virtually no
Edison will keep hold of a 51% interest in the sulphur oxides or particulate matter. It produces
project while PIR will retain 30%. 90% less nitrogen oxides and 25% less carbon
Construction work at the site is 70% com- dioxide in maritime transport versus conven-
plete, with operations scheduled to start in Octo- tional fuels, according to Edison, while achiev-
ber 2021. The plant will store up to 20,000 cubic ing cuts of 60% and 20% respectively in road
metres of LNG and provide over 1mn tonnes in transport.
annual supply. This is enough gas to meet the fuel Both Edison and Enagas are already involved
needs of 12,000 trucks and up to 48 ferries. in small-scale LNG supply in their respective
“Collaboration in projects like this will allow countries.™

Hammerfest LNG restart could take a year

PERFORMANCE THE Hammerfest LNG plant in northern “The fire at Hammerfest LNG was a serious
Norway could take up to 12 months to restart, incident,” Equinor’s senior vice-president for
operator Equinor has said, following a “dra- onshore facilities, Grete Haaland, said in a state-
matic” fire that broke out at the facility in late ment this week. “The various investigations into
September. the incident will be important in order to iden-
Beyond the damage caused by the fire to the tify measures that will prevent similar incidents
air intake at one of the plant’s five power tur- from happening again.”
bines, seawater used to extinguish the blaze has Equinor added it would use the shutdown
also damaged other auxiliary systems such as period to carry out other maintenance and repair
electrical equipment and cables, Equinor said work planned for 2021. This includes ongoing
on October 26. work and a maintenance turnaround scheduled
The shutdown’s duration will hinge on the for next spring. The plant underwent a five-week
delivery time of necessary equipment and also period of maintenance earlier this year between
restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavi- May 15 and June 22.
rus (COVID-19) pandemic, the company said. Hammerfest LNG is one of a number of
Inspections are ongoing, but Equinor’s best LNG facilities globally that have had to deal with
estimate is that Hammerfest LNG will be offline outages recently. A train at Chevron’s Gorgon
until October 1, 2021. terminal in Western Australia remains offline
Norway’s only LNG terminal produces while cracks on propane heat exchangers are
around 5.6mn tonnes per year (tpy) of super- being repaired. Two more trains are due to go
cooled gas using the offshore Snohvit field as its offline at different points next year so that their
resource base. Equinor also operates Snohvit, weld quality can be checked. Meanwhile, Royal
joined by partners Total, Neptune Energy, Win- Dutch Shell is struggling to resume operations
tershall Dea and Petoro. at the Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) project in
Equinor previously said Hammerfest LNG Australia, which went offline in February after
would return to operations at the start of 2021. an electric trip.
The company, Norway’s Petroleum Safety US Gulf of Mexico terminals have also suf-
Authority (PSA) and the Norwegian police are fered recent disruptions owing to a series of
all investigating the cause of the blaze. storms.™

Week 43 30•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15