Equinor has confirmed that the methanol plant at Tjeldbergodden in Norway is now back in production following its decommissioning due to a fire that occurred in December 2020. The company advised that safe start-up preparations have gone according to plan and the facility is now supplying methanol to the market.
The air gas factory and methanol plant were shut down as a result of a fire which broke out in the compressor building in the methanol factory area. No personal injuries occurred in the fire.
Lena Skogly, plant manager at Tjeldbergodden, said their number one priority has been safe and secure start-up of the facility.
“I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to get the facility back online, both our own employees and external expertise,” she said.
“It takes time to check all technical matters and damage due to the fire. Thorough inspections in the facility, as well as testing and validation of equipment that may have been affected by the fire have been carried out.”
“During these efforts, it’s been important to extract learning from the incident and ensure that we have the technical and operative barriers in place before start-up. This painstaking work makes us confident that the facility will produce in a safe and stable manner,” Skogly said.
Equinor’s investigation into the fire on 2 December 2020 is ongoing.
