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A JOURNAL FROM THE NORWEGIAN OCEAN INDUSTRY AUTHORITY

Faith in the future

Two people in work clothes at the Hammerfest LNG Photo: Elisabeth Kjørmo
All new personnel at Hammerfest LNG must take an initial onboarding programme. “This aims to inculcate awareness and attitudes, understanding risk, the management system and the way we do things,” says Emma Holm Nilsen. She is seen here (left) with Equinor colleague Oscar Laurhammer.

The world's most northerly gas liquefaction plant is running flat out in parallel with Snøhvit Future, a comprehensive and ambitious modification project. That makes big demands on staffing, expertise and risk management.

  • Risk management

 “For many people, coming here is like entering a completely different world,” says Emma Holm Nilsen at Hammerfest LNG, which stands on the island of Melkøya in Finnmark county.

Responsible for apprentice process operators, she guides confidently around tall concrete tanks and a multitude of pipes and valves. After almost 10 years, she knows her way around – just as well, because things are about to get really busy.

Not only is the processing plant for production from the Snøhvit field operating normally, but major modification work is also under way to ensure onshore compression and electrification.

Workforce

In normal operation, the Hammerfest LNG workforce totals about 600 people, including some 350 operators and technicians, 60 graduates, 40 apprentices and 150 contractor personnel.

But Snøhvit Future will mean a sharp increase in supplier and project employees. At peak, 1 200-1 500 people are due to be working at the plant on both normal operations and the project.

“My job includes giving the right introduction to new personnel,” says Holm Nilsen. “There have been 70 of them in 2024 alone. Everyone has to undergo an onboarding programme to understand what we do and how we work.

“This introductory package deals with awareness and attitudes, understanding risk, the management system and the way we do things. It quite simply ensures that everyone working here has a basic grasp from the start.”

The Snøhvit field

Identified in 1984, the Snøhvit gas field ranked as the first discovery to be developed in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. A plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 2002 and production began in 2007. Equinor is operator.

The development comprises several subsea templates, with the wellstream piped to the Hammerfest LNG liquefaction plant at Melkøya outside Hammerfest in Finnmark county.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) represents the plant’s main product and is exported by sea.

Water, condensate, CO2 and mercury are removed from the natural gas in a number of process steps before the gas is cooled to -162°C, temporarily stored in large tanks and loaded onto carriers.

Condensate is also transported away by ship, while CO2 gets piped back to the field for injection beneath the seabed. Every year, 750 000 tonnes of CO2 are captured and stored in this way.

Coordination

“Operating normally during major modification work is demanding, but it's a positive challenge,” says production vice president Rasmus F Wille at Hammerfest LNG.

“We’ll also be conducting an 80-day turnaround in the spring of 2025, the biggest in a long time. A great deal of work thereby has to be planned for, implemented and risk-managed.

“Structured collaboration between the operations and project teams, the operator and suppliers is crucial to success.”

“The scale of this activity means increased complexity and risk,” observes Fritz H Eilertsen, project manager for the work at Melkøya. “It involves onshore compression and electrification along with a new emergency power system.”

Onshore compression is actually quite straightforward, he adds. “We've built a number of compressors in the past and are very familiar with such work.

“The electrification part is more complicated technically. A lot of electrical equipment and steam boilers have to be installed. Similar work’s been done before, but not on this scale.”

People in work clothes at Hammerfest LNG
Snøhvit Future means a big increase in supplier and project personnel at Hammerfest LNG. At peak, 1 200-1 500 people are due to be working at the plant on both normal operations and the project. Photo: Elisabeth Kjørmo

Picking up

Activity is starting to pick up in the plant area, with construction work under way. The top of one of the four large storage tanks provides a view across to the mainland and work under way on the route for the power line.

Scaffolding, tenting and other preparations for large-scale construction are under way adjacent to the processing plant, where the equipment for compression, power transmission and steam generation will be located.

The project means a stream of newcomers entering the facility, so Holm Nilsen and her colleagues are working hard to onboard them.

Oscar Laurhammer has just arrived in Hammerfest. With his master’s degree in hand, he joined Melkøya in the late summer and finds both Snøhvit Future and Hammerfest LNG a perfect fit for a newly qualified electrical engineer.

He is part of a new initiative in operator Equinor's northern region where young new employees rotate into different positions and locations in Hammerfest and at Harstad further south. The aim is to ensure a stable labour force for the liquefaction facility.

“We hope he stays,” says Holm Nilsen, and adds that time is a key factor in wanting to continue living in this Arctic city.

“There's a big difference between being a native and working here. You don't have the same relationship with the place if you’re just visiting. What matters is remaining here long enough.”

Chief safety delegate Trond Børre Halvorsen at Hammerfest LNG says it takes around three to three and a half years to become an experienced member of the workforce.

“Losing personnel with experience is unfortunate, and it takes a long time to train up replacements,” he points out.

All to Europe

Annual gas exports from Snøhvit meet the needs of about 6.5 million European households. Every five days, or 70 times a year, a carrier leaves the jetty at Melkøya fully laden with LNG.

Each shipload corresponds to one terawatt hour (TWh) of energy. By comparison, Norway's hydropower output in a normal year is just over 137 TWh.

 “Our entire production in 2023 was exported to Europe, probably to compensate for the loss of Russian gas,” reports Wille. “We’re proud of our role as an energy supplier.”

He notes that Equinor's top management talks a lot about the energy trilemma – how to deliver energy to customers in a sustainable way with low CO2 emissions and at an affordable price, while also contributing to security of supply.

“Snøhvit Future is perfect for meeting these challenges. It will enable us to cut emissions, increase gas production and contribute to reliable, long-term deliveries.”

Image of a tanker ship docked at Melkøya near Hammerfest.
Every five days, or 70 times a year, an LNG carrier leaves the jetty at the gas liquefaction plant on Melkøya outside Hammerfest. Photo: Equinor

Varying risk

Risk will vary in the different Snøhvit Future phases. The first stage has mostly involved preparing and organising for its implementation, along with construction linked to infrastructure and groundwork.

The project is now entering a period of greater hazard associated with hook-up to electrical systems in a plant operating normally. That calls for good understanding and management of risk based on solid construction know-how.

“We want to keep suppliers and players at Melkøya to a minimum,” Wille emphasises. “Our aim is to utilise companies with prior knowledge of the installation and thereby secure efficient logistics, and we’ve succeeded there. A large proportion of our suppliers are already familiar with the installation.

“Risk varies with the project phase and which stage you’re working in. You must always be sure that you actually understand the risk and how to handle it.

“When connecting to substations, electrical systems and the like, we move to a different type of risk related to production stoppages or outages, ignition source control and so on.”

An important barrier to managing the risk is the work permit system, where responsibility rests with the operations organisation.

“To manage the risk, we’re also building up personnel capacity,” Wille reports. “At the same time, we must work at a pace which enables us to keep up and act safely.

“Time’s naturally an important factor. And, sure, we’ll pursue the projects quickly, but no faster than necessary to ensure safety. That’s always a key requirement.”

He emphasises that teamwork and psychological safety are essential. “We encourage everyone to let us know if they have any concerns so that we can address these.”

Snøhvit Future

This project aims to increase gas recovery from Snøhvit with onshore compression and converting energy supply from gas-turbine-driven generators at Melkøya to all-electric operation using power from the national grid.

The work is expected to extend Hammerfest LNG’s lifetime to 2050 and cut CO2 emissions from the plant by around 90 per cent or some 850 000 tonnes per annum.

Onshore compression will be completed by 2028, while the shift from gas turbines to full electrical operation will take place in 2030 at the earliest.

Total investment is put at about NOK 13.2 billion.

Capacity

Hammerfest LNG has a major accident potential, and ensuring adequate capacity and expertise is a key demand. Deficiencies in these areas have been highlighted in past Havtil audits and investigations.

A fire broke out in the air intake of a Melkøya turbine in the autumn of 2020. The plant was shut down for more than a year and investigated by Havtil. One nonconformity identified related to resources and staffing – an issue the authorities had followed up and noted in previous audits and investigations.

After this incident, Equinor established a separate unit to work more systematically on expertise and development. Wille believes this has had a positive effect together with other measures, but says competition over able personnel is still fierce.

“Staff turnover has earlier exceeded 10 per cent, but it's now down to around two,” he reports. “But we still face the challenge that it's difficult to compete with jobs offshore.

“This is a matter of pay and working hours, but also access to housing and air fares. Flying south is expensive for families who live here.

“However, we now actually do have quite a few newcomers, and we're also seeing people returning to Hammerfest from offshore life. That’s very positive.”

Interesting

“I think this could reflect the exciting work on offer at an onshore facility – and we’re on land,” says Wille. “In reality, jobs here are more interesting than those offshore.

“Assignments are more challenging. They’re more complex, and you can work both on operations and in various projects.”

Local girl Holm Nilsen started her career at Hammerfest LNG in 2015, first as an apprentice process operator and then in operations for several years before becoming manager of the apprentice programme. She combines this with her role in the expertise and development department.

“Where I’m concerned, there's no better place,” she says. “I’ve everything I need here. Activity in the town is so high that it’s a struggle to get enough people. Hammerfest is a big place, but in one sense it’s also small.

“There aren't enough locals here to meet the demand for labour, so outsiders are needed. As well as skilled workers, there’s a demand for graduates – engineers and good managers. And they don’t grow on trees.”

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