Cold gas gave life to the Snøhvit field
In the early 80s, important gas resources were discovered in the Snøhvit region in the Barents Sea, 140 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest. At first, plans were drawn up for a buried pipeline across the Finnmarksvidda plateau, but this would have been too expensive. Liquid natural gas (LNG) technology was then evaluated, but the solutions available at that time were also too expensive and the field development was put aside.
However, not everyone was ready to give up. Professor Einar Brendeng of NTNU wanted to develop a new technology to liquify natural ga. A cooperative research programme involving SINTEF, NTNU and Statoil produced 12 doctorates and several more M.Sc. projects, not to mention new LNG technology that would make it possible to develop Snøhvit. NTNU, SINTEF and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) also played central roles in developing the multi-phase technology that enables the gas to be brought ashore without a platform, another important aspect of the Snøhvit adventure.
Compact heat exchangers
Gas from Snøhvit is brought up and transported by pipeline to the coast of Finnmark without the need for offshore surface installations. On the island of Melkøya just outside Hammerfest, the gas will be cooled down with the aid of the new technology and the new heat exchangers that will be used in the processing plant.
An American company used to dominate the market for heat exchangers for LNG plants. The solution on which Statoil, NTNU and SINTEF have cooperated has broken this monopoly. Shell has already acquired some parts of the technology from Statoil and the German company Linde, which has designed the LNG plant on Melkøya. As the biggest LNG operator in the world, Shell will use the heat exchangers at first in its plants in Australia and Brunei.
