On June 7, a serious incident occurred at a gas processing plant in Nyhamna in the municipality of Aukra. This led to a complete halt in ongoing maintenance work. Gas supplies to Great Britain have still not restarted. Following the incident, Shell launched an internal investigation.
Now it turns out that the cause was a plastic tank that exploded.
– I know that sounds dramatic with an explosion inside a gas plant, but it wasn’t an explosion inside the process equipment itself, said Kitty Eide, communications manager at Shell.
At Nyhamna, gas comes from the Ormen Lange and Åsta Hansteen fields in the Norwegian Sea. The gas flows to several places in Europe. Norwegian company Gassco is the operator of the gas plant in Nyhamna and Shell is the technical service provider and is responsible for maintenance.
Photo: Shell
It fell to the ground
Because the water-based cooling system in the processing plant had to be washed, plastic tanks were placed temporarily inside the plant. The tank is one cubic meter in size, and is supposed to collect foam and liquid during the wash job.
Hydrogen in the cooling system and drainage into a closed plastic tank creates conditions that cause an explosion.
The tank shattered and the steel network around it was deformed by the explosion. A worker who was nearby was thrown to the ground by the air pressure.
– This person was immediately sent for medical examination, and fortunately was not injured, said Eide.
– We took what happened seriously, and are glad that no one was hurt. We are working with our partners to find out what caused this to happen, said Kitty Eide.
Photo: Gunnar Sandvik/NRK
After the explosion, all work was stopped and the factory was evacuated. First, the concentration of hydrogen in the system increases, before they can degas it. The cooling system is now emptied and filled with fresh water.
– We will of course continue to keep an eye on this system when we start production again.
The facility is closed
Nyhamna was empty of natural gas when the accident occurred.
Every four years, the gas processing plant is closed for maintenance. This year, the factory closed on May 19 and is scheduled to resume operations in mid-June.
Due to that incident, the start was delayed. Gasco as the gas transport operator said that the planned date for another start-up is July 15.
The Langeled gas pipeline runs from the gas plant at Aukra on the Romsdal coast to Easington in England. The pipeline has been transporting gas between Norway and the United Kingdom since 2007.
Photo: Roar Strøm / NRK
Take the incident very seriously
Shell is still working on an internal investigation.
– We’ve brought in international experts to find out why this is happening. We thought of sharing our analysis with the authorities and other actors with similar systems. It’s important to learn from such incidents, said Eide.
“Social media guru. Total beer fanatic. Tv ninja. Typical coffee fan. Amateur entrepreneur. Unapologetic food scholar.”
