2002:

Construction of the Largest Natural Gas Liquefaction Plant in Europe near Hammerfest, Norway

As early as 1971 Linde built the first peak-shaving plant for natural gas liquefaction. When larger amounts of gas are extracted than are required for average consumption the surplus gas is liquefied and stored there.

Later Linde also built base-load plants used to cover the basic requirement. The liquefied gas is shipped by tanker to the consumer countries, where it is unloaded in terminals. There it is again vaporized and distributed to consumers over pipelines or municipal gas networks.

In 2002, Linde began the construction of the largest natural gas liquefaction plant on the rocky island of Melkøya off the coast of Hammerfest for the Norwegian StatoilHydro company. The LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant is the northernmost industrial plant in the world, far to the north of the Arctic Circle. A 160 kilometer long pipeline transports the natural gas from the Barents Sea to the plant, where each year 4.3 million metric tons of LNG gas are produced each year – this represents some four per cent of the annual world requirement.

Melkøya (Photo courtesy of StatoilHydro)

Because of the rough climate and the lack of infrastructure in Hammerfest, only parts of the facility could be fabricated on site. The greater portion of the processing plant was assembled on a barge, a floatable steel substructure 145 meters long, 54 meters wide and 9 meters high, in the southern Spanish city of Cádiz. In only 18 months, a multi-story steel structure grew on top of it with 45 pumps, five gas turbines, heat exchangers and compressors. The gas turbines drive generators, which supply the plant on Melkøya with electricity. The 36,000 metric ton plant was then shipped piggy-back atop the world’s largest heavy transport ship over 3,000 kilometers from Cádiz to Hammerfest.

The heart of the processing plant, the cold box, was assembled in Antwerp. The heat exchanger for the natural gas liquefaction process is inside it. The cold box is the same size as a 20-story high-rise. It is 64 meters tall and weighs 3,000 metric tons. It was transported standing on a special ship to Melkøya, placed on prepared foundations there and then installed.

Transportation of the Coldbox

The plant near Hammerfest is one of the most energy-saving and environmentally sound LNG plants in the world. The plant began commercial production in September of 2007 and should be able to run for the next 30 years. A later extension was already planned during the technical alignment back in 2002.