Demands Snøhvit CO2 capture survey
PHOTO: Even Edland / StatoilHydro
Solheim demands that StatoilHydro finishes a study of CO2 capture of the LNG-plant at Melkøya by the end of 2010, Norwegian Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.
It was the Norwegian Pollution Authority which first sent a request to Erik Solheim’s Ministry last year, and requested him to demand such a survey on CO2 capture in the Snøhvit project.
In 2008 Snøhvit’s LNG-plant at Melkøya emitted more than 1.3 million tons of CO2. A demand of total CO2 capture will probably add several billion EUR of costs to StatoilHydro’s project. Since the plant was opened in 2007 the company has not been able to achieve full production due to several technical problems, adding almost 4 billion EUR to the costs of the gas field project. The problems have also been a vital factor to the high level of CO2 emissions.
Minister Solheim says CO2 capture technology must be made less expensive over time. However, Solheim says he will not hezitate to add extra expenses on StatoilHydro’s Snøhvit project.
StatoilHydros’s answer to the minister’s request is that the company will of course do the survey and then see which demands will come next.
Background information
The Snøhvit project, operated by StatoilHydro, is the first offshore development in the Barents Sea. Unique in its kind, the field brings natural gas to land for liquefaction. The project LNG plant at Melkøya, near the town of Hammerfest, is the first plant of its kind in Europe and the world’s northernmost liquefied natural gas facility. Snøhvit is the first major development on the Norwegian continental shelf with no surface installations. Subsea production facilities stand on the seabed, in water depths of 250-345 metres. The gas is transported to land through a 143-kilometre pipeline.
Source: Barents Observer.
