Norwegian offshore safety agency, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given its consent to Shell to use the expanded facilities at the Nyhamna gas plant in Norway, that will receive gas from the Polarled pipeline.
The 482-kilometer long Polarled pipeline will transport gas from the Statoil-operated Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to Nyhamna.
The onshore facility at Nyhamna in the Møre Og Romsdal county was brought into service in 2003 as a gas-processing facility for the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea.
According to the safety authority, the Nyhamna facilities are now being expanded to receive gas from the Statoil-operated offshore Aasta Hansteen field through the Polarled pipeline. As the operator of the plant, Shell is responsible for preparing the Nyhamna processing plant for gas reception.
Aasta Hansteen is located 300 kilometers from land, northwest of Sandnessjøen. The field will be developed using a floating integrated spar platform and two subsea templates with a total of eight well slots.
The field was initially scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2017. The production from the field was postponed in October 2015, due to delays in construction of the platform, with first gas now expected in 2018.
The agency added that the expansion of Nyhamna entails an increase in processing capacity from 70 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) per day to 84 million Sm3 per day.
The expansion includes receiving plant and facilities for Polarled, including two new onshore compressors for gas compression for Ormen Lange, the upgrading of support systems and construction of a new compressor to increase export capacity through the Langeled pipeline that runs from Nyhamna, via Sleipner to Easington in the UK.