Offshore staff
After an 11-day journey from Cadiz in southern Spain, the LNG process plant for Statoil's Snøhvit project arrived in Hammerfest on July 11.
The world's largest heavy-lift vessel, Dockwise'sBlue Marlin, left Cadiz, Spain, June 30, making a 2,700-nautical-mile trip with the 33,000-tonne process plant on board. Because of some headwinds, the ship could not keep up top speed for the entire voyage, but the transportation remained on schedule.
During the first part of this week dockworkers will place the plant in the prepared dock at the Hammerfest LNG plant on Melkøya.
The timing of the docking is not as critical as previously estimated. The barge is somewhat lighter than Statoil anticipated, so it can dock at normal high tide instead of having to wait for the spring tide. That means favorable docking conditions occur twice a day, but final placement still depends on good weather.
When weather permits, workers will maneuver the barge into position in front of the dock. When the barge is ready to be positioned in the dock, solid winches will be attached to it and six tugboats will steer its course.
The process plant will cool the gas from Snøhvit into LNG in Europe's first LNG export facility. LNG deliveries from the plant will begin October 1, 2006.
07/11/05
