By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 13 -- A group led by Statoil ASA plans to build a cogeneration plant at the Mongstad refinery near Bergen, and a gas-fired unit at Tjeldbergodden in mid-Norway, along with an associated increase in methanol capacity. The group's overall investment requirement is 8.5 billion kroner, with Statoil shouldering 4 billion kroner.
Statoil recently concluded a cooperation agreement with Elsam A/S, Denmark's largest electricity and heat producer, which would construct the Mongstad cogeneration plant and become a part owner. Statoil also is negotiating with other companies about equity participation in the power station at Tjeldbergodden.
License and permit applications and notifications are before the Norwegian Water Resources and Electricity Directorate and the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority.
A final decision on investing in the two projects will be taken by the Statoil board after license terms and other conditions have been clarified—probably in the first half of 2006.
Start-up of all new facilities has been scheduled for 2008.
Mongstad
At Mongstad the combined heat and power station will provide more-efficient energy supplies and deliver electricity to the Troll A platform and the gas processing plant at Kollsnes south of Mongstad.
The plant, which will offer an energy efficiency of about 70%, will be fueled with refinery surplus gas and natural gas from Troll that would be transmitted in a gas pipeline to be built from Kollsnes.
The investment at Mongstad will be about 3 billion kroner, including 600 million kroner for the new pipeline and a similar outlay for refinery modifications.
The power station will be dimensioned on the basis of the refinery's 350 Mw heat requirements. Its electricity output will be about 280 Mw or roughly 2.2 Tw-hr/year.
Tjeldbergodden
The Tjeldbergodden project will expand methanol output by 35%. Annual production, based on gas piped from Heidrun in the Norwegian Sea, will be increased to 1.2 million tonnes from almost 900,000 tonnes.
An 860 Mw gas-fired power station will be built in connection with the plant to generate about 7 Tw-hr/year, roughly 6% of total Norwegian electricity output. This will help to meet a 0.2 Tw-hr rise in Tjeldbergodden's internal power use after the expansion.
The remaining electrical power output will be delivered to the grid in mid-Norway, which suffers a shortage and faces large demand growth from major industrial developments.
Investment will be about 5.5 billion kroner, with the methanol plant expansion accounting for 1.3 billion kroner.