The Snøhvit Future project at Melkøya in Hammerfest secures continued gas exports, value creation and economic development in Northern Norway, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. Here we explain more about this extensive project. Further down the page, you will also find a selection of questions and answers about the project.
Snøhvit Future strengthens Norway's position as a reliable and long-term supplier of gas produced with very low greenhouse gas emissions. The project is important to secure jobs in Hammerfest and energy supply to Europe beyond 2050.
In accordance with the authorities' approval, we are planning onshore compression to ensure the flow of gas through the facility from 2029 and electrification from 2030.
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The work on a new electricity grid connection related to the Snøhvit Future project is well underway at Meland. Equinor has launched a dedicated webpage to keep neighbours well informed about the project. (Norwegian only.)
Reducing emissions by 850,000 tonnes per year
Hammerfest LNG employs about 2,500 people, including ripple effects
Every day, Hammerfest LNG provides light and heat for 6.5 million homes
Five percent of Norway’s gas exports come from Melkøya
On 20 December 2022, Equinor, on behalf of the Snøhvit partnership, Equinor submitted the plan for development and operation (PDO) for Snøhvit Future to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy. On 8 August 2023, Norwegian authorities announced that the project had been approved. As of March 2026, the project is well over halfway completed and there is high activity at all locations. The start-up of onshore compression is planned for 2029 and the transition to electric operation is scheduled for 2030.
Extending lifespan, jobs, and ripple effects
Snøhvit Future will strengthen Norway's position as a reliable and long-term supplier of natural gas produced with very low greenhouse gas emissions. The project contributes to secure jobs in Hammerfest and energy supply to Europe beyond 2050.
During the development phase, Snøhvit Future will generate significant ripple effects both in Finnmark and the rest of the country. More than 70% of the value creation is expected to go to Norwegian companies, representing a value of NOK 18 billion. More than a third of this will go to Northern Norway, primarily Finnmark. Regional employment during the project period is estimated at close to 2,500 person-years, of which 1,900 will be local. At the national level, the project is expected to generate over 10,000 person-years.
Hammerfest LNG is a central enterprise in the region with up to 500 employees, 38 apprentices, and between 150-200 contractors/suppliers. Including ripple effects, Hammerfest LNG contributes 2,500 person-years in total. The partnership in the Snøhvit licence is committed to ensuring that Hammerfest LNG remains competitive and viable even in a low-carbon society, enabling us to keep these important jobs.
Significant emission reductions
Norway is to halve CO2 emissions from the production of oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf by 2030 (compared with 2005). This is essential for Norway to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. The electrification of Hammerfest LNG is the largest single emission-reducing measure for Norway to achieve its climate goals. By replacing the power from the current gas turbines with power from the mainland, we will cut the annual CO2 emissions by 850,000 tonnes, equivalent to two percent of Norway's annual emissions.
The Snøhvit Future project consists of onshore compression and electrification of Hammerfest LNG at Melkøya. Onshore compression will help maintain peak production when the pressure in the reservoirs is reduced, while electrification with power from the mainland will remove significant greenhouse gas emissions from the gas turbines that currently power the plant.
A substation is now being constructed at Melkøya, ahead of installing compressor modules and electrode steam boilers. Extensive modification work is also under way.
A tunnel is now being operated to carry power cables from Hyggevatn to Meland. From Meland, sea cables will be installed over to Melkøya.
The electrification of Hammerfest LNG triggers the need for more power to the Hammerfest region. This need and a construction contribution of up to NOK 600 million has triggered Statnett's construction of a new 420 kV power line from Skaidi to Hyggevatn.
Aibel has been awarded a contract for modification work at Hammerfest LNG.
Examples of subcontractors to Aibel:
Multiconsult has been responsible for the design of the grid connection associated with the Snøhvit Future project and now supports Equinor in the construction phase. The contract employs staff from Alta in the north to Fredrikstad in the south. The design team is led from Multiconsult's office in Tromsø, and the company has established a new office in Hammerfest.
Nexans will supply and install power and fibre optic cables. Parts of the power cable are produced in Halden and the fibre optic cable in Rognan in Nordland.
LNS (Leonhard Nilsen og sønner) from Andøy municipality has been awarded the contract for building the grid connection (tunnel from Hyggevatn to Meland and landfall on land).
Examples of subcontractors:
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In the past year, we have received — and answered — a large number of questions about the Snøhvit Future project. Here are some of them.
Snøhvit Future is necessary to maintain operations at Hammerfest LNG. The project consists of compression that extends the lifespan beyond 2030 and electrification that cuts emissions by 850,000 tonnes. We will also need more power for compression.
The project strengthens Norway's role as a long-term and predictable supplier of energy to Europe, it provides substantial revenues to the community as 85 percent of the income from Snøhvit goes to the state, it preserves the nearly 700 jobs at Melkøya and maintains ripple effects. The operation of Hammerfest LNG provides a total of 1,450 person-years including ripple effects, most of them in the north.
Electrification provides the largest climate cut, a whole 850,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The chosen solution has been matured over several years, and we have considered various alternatives, including full-scale CCS and partial electrification with CCS. A full-scale CCS solution was studied in 2009-2010.
Full electrification and partial electrification with CCS were further studied. Technical complexity, costs, spatial considerations, and high implementation risk meant that partial electrification with CCS was also discarded at the concept selection for the Snøhvit Future project in 2019. It was many of the same reasons that led to full-scale CCS being discarded after the earlier study. In 2018-19, a new assessment of full-scale CCS was made. The conclusion from 2010 was confirmed.
It is very complicated to retrofit a facility that is already in operation for CCS. Technical complexity is cost-driving and increases the risk of implementation, meaning the possibilities for cost overruns and delays. Moreover, it is a very space-demanding retrofit for a facility located on an island with limited available space.
Equinor, along with experienced industry players, has explored the possibility of building a new, standalone gas power plant with carbon capture and storage in connection with Melkøya, to contribute to increased power production. Together with three different potential suppliers, we conducted studies to see how this could be solved. The work showed that the costs would be between NOK 40-45 billion for a facility with a capacity of about 400 MW. Since the Snøhvit partnership would have been dependent on electrifying Melkøya with a CCS solution anyway, the cost for this would have been in addition to the approved Snøhvit Future project that is now under construction. This is not economically justifiable, and the work was therefore concluded.
A CCS solution would also have presupposed the identification of a new underground reservoir for storing CO2 captured from the gas turbines, drilling of injection well and new infrastructure for CO2 transportation.
Firstly, electrification was postponed to 2030. In addition, the Ministry indicated the possibility for periodic operation of the gas turbines until the concession expires in 2033, if necessary.
The conversion of power supply to operation with power from the grid frees up about 5.8 billion Sm3 of gas that can be sold in the market towards the end of the field's lifetime.
Economically, the costs are approximately the same whether the facility is operated with gas or electricity. We are not electrifying the facility to make money, but to cut emissions. That said, the entire principle behind the CO₂ tax and emissions trading is that cutting emissions should be rewarded. This shows that the system works.
The transition from gas to electricity as an energy source does free up gas that can be sold and contributes somewhat to the total gas production at the end of the facility's lifespan. What makes Snøhvit Future a profitable project is that compression enables us to recover significantly more gas and continue production beyond 2050.
Already in the early 2000s, the partners were required to cut emissions from Hammerfest LNG. More recently, the oil and gas industry in Norway has been mandated to halve emissions so that Norway can meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. Hammerfest LNG is Norway's third-largest point source of emissions, and electrification will remove 850,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
As of now, we envision operations at Melkøya continuing beyond 2050.
Since the beginning, the development has been planned in several phases to adjust production to the processing capacity of the facility, simply to replenish the facility over time. The total development includes the Snøhvit, Albatross, Snøhvit North, and Askeladd structures.
In December 2022, production started from Askeladd, and in 2025 from Askeladd West which provides replenishment to the facility at Melkøya before onshore compression starts in 2029 as part of the Snøhvit Future project.
The assumed operation beyond 2050 is largely about future compression both onshore and on the seabed to maintain the flow from these fields to Melkøya. We have accounted for future power needs in the reservation we now have for a total of 400 MW.
We have been allocated a capacity of a total maximum of 400 MW (HLNG currently has 50 MW) from Statnett when the new 420 kV power line is in place between Skaidi and Hyggevatn. It is sufficient to ensure gas production with low climate emissions from Melkøya beyond 2050, including power needs for future increased compression requirements. Although compression will require more power over time, the largest power requirement is related to the electrification of the processing plant.
The authorities have asked us to push electrification until 2030. We trust that the authorities will facilitate access to power so that we can cut emissions from Melkøya as planned and mandated, while maintaining important gas production and securing jobs in the north.
Firstly, emissions in Norway are cut by 850,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Here we remove one of Norway's largest emission points, and it is difficult to succeed with national climate goals without addressing the large emission points.
Emissions from Hammerfest LNG are indeed covered by climate quotas, but a reduction in Norwegian emission sources will also mean that there will be fewer such quotas. When emissions are reduced, quotas become redundant and EU quotas are revoked. Thus, electrification contributes to reducing emissions in the European energy system.
The main purpose of the EU's quota market and the Norwegian supplementary CO2 taxes is to stimulate emission cuts in Europe in line with the Paris Agreement. Cutting emissions should be rewarded.
Electrification is a measure that shows that the system stimulates reductions in CO2 emissions. The quota market is intended to reach zero in the long term and will become gradually tighter. Equinor has long supported climate policy measures such as carbon pricing to stimulate emission cuts.
Equinor has conducted a concept competition with three different companies, national and international, who assessed the costs for a standalone gas power plant with carbon capture.
The companies are specialists in the field and have assessed the costs for a total facility with gas turbines and carbon capture facilities. Equinor has internally evaluated the transport and injection of CO2, to get a complete picture of costs for the entire value chain.
Equinor has previously considered retrofitting the existing facility for CO2 capture and storage, then the estimated coast was about NOK 37 billion for a power capacity of about 200 MW.
Retrofitting the existing facility would also have significant project risk associated with the integration of CCS, and it would not have been sufficient to cover the power needs at Melkøya going forward.
We know there are different opinions about our cost estimates, but they are based on the knowledge we as the operator have about the facility.
Both we, our partners, and the authorities have a responsibility to carry out profitable projects, and 85 percent of the revenues from Snøhvit and Hammerfest LNG go to the state treasury through taxes and the state's direct ownership share (Petoro). However, costs are far from the only challenge in choosing CCS in this case. Technical complexity and high implementation risk were also significant arguments.
On the contrary, for Equinor, CCS is an important measure to cut emissions in the industry. However, it must be done on the right projects.
We are central to Norway's CCS flagship project Longship, where the government, along with major industrial players, contributes to new technology development within capture, transport, and storage of CO2. Equinor is central to the Northern Lights part of the project, which involves transport and permanent storage of CO2, while other industrial players are now building Norway's first facilities for capturing CO2 from flue gas.
We are also involved in several CCS projects outside Norway. We are developing the Northern Endurance Partnership together with operator BP in the UK, where we are maturing a CO2 transport and storage solution off the North Sea coast. Together with BP, we are also planning to build a brand-new gas power plant with CO2 capture in Teesside in England. We are also looking at building a pipeline and shipping solution that can transport captured CO2 from industrial customers in northwestern Europe, with the possibility of storing their CO2 under the seabed on the Norwegian continental shelf, such as in the Smeaheia licence. Furthermore, we have bought a stake in one of the largest CCS projects in the USA, Bayou Bend, in Texas. Here, together with operator Chevron and partner Talos, we aim to develop a CO2 storage both on land and offshore, where refineries and other customers can have their emissions transported and permanently stored. These are early-stage projects that require large investments and decisions on new infrastructure to be realised.
A CCS facility on the gas turbines at Melkøya could use the same technology as the carbon capture facilities at Klemetsrud and Brevik. The difference lies in the CO2 content in the gas turbine exhaust. At HLNG, the CO2 content in the exhaust is 4%, while Brevik and Klemetsrud have 10%. Therefore, the sizing and cost of CCS per tonne at HLNG will be higher, and the CCS facility more complex.
It is the partnership that pays for the operation of the turbines until 2030, but Equinor's assessment is that the project's economy is still acceptable.
The power requirement for compression will be limited to begin with, and we are working on optimising operations, facilities, and existing available power to cover this need.
The power we produce today is used by Hammerfest LNG. In a potential contingency situation, this is regulated by agreement.
We have a concession for the operation of the gas turbines until mid-2033. In our plans, we had accounted for keeping them as a backup until 2030. Now, the authorities will assess whether it is necessary to keep the turbines on standby until the concession period expires. The approval letter states:
"If required by considerations of power and/or power balance, the Ministry will, before 1 January 2030, enter into dialogue with the rights holders to find agreement-based solutions to ensure periodic operation at the existing energy facility at Hammerfest LNG until the expiration of the facility's concession in 2033. It is stipulated that the rights holders shall contribute to such an agreement-based solution. An agreement-based solution could, for example, be that the licence holders operate the facility during specific periods or that the state takes over the facility. An assessment of the need for such a solution will take place no later than 2028."
We have a concession until 2033, we have an approved plan – and are in the process of building – a project that involves electrification from 2030.
The efficiency should not be degraded by being kept in standby.