Outages cut Norway's gas production capacity

OREANDA-NEWS. Process problems have cut production capacity at Norway's Valemon field by 5mn m?/d, while separate issues have cut processing capacity at the onshore Nyhamna terminal by 10mn m?/d.

Nyhamna processing capacity was cut at 13:00 (12:00 GMT) and the Valemon outage began five minutes later. Both capacity reductions were expected to last 12-24 hours.

The Valemon gas and condensate field only came online at the start of the month. Statoil said in 2010 that it expects the field's gas output to peak at about 3bn m?/yr, or a little over 8mn m?/d. Valemon gas is piped to the Heimdal platform for processing, a hub for onward transport to the UK and continental Europe.

Nyhamna processes gas from the Ormen Lange field which is delivered to the UK through Langeled, or can be diverted to the continent via the Sleipner riser. Ormen Lange produced nearly 56mn m?/d in November, the latest numbers available.