Danish energy company Elsam has today, 3 November, secured a contract with Statoil to build, own and operate a combined heat and power (CHP) station at the group's Mongstad refinery north of Bergen.
Elsam is to invest more than NOK 1 billion in the plant, and the deal covers an operational period of 20 years.
The CHP station forms part of Statoil's Mongstad energy project (EVM), which also includes an upgrade of the refinery and a new gas pipeline from the Kollsnes complex north of Bergen to Mongstad.
An application to build and a request for a renewed emission permit were submitted on 1 July.
Statoil is now planning the project in more detail and, provided the licence is awarded with acceptable conditions, a final decision on implementation will be able to be taken in 2006. The facilities could then stand ready in 2008.
Fuelled with surplus gas from the refinery and natural gas from the Troll field in the North Sea, the CHP station will supply the refinery with power and heat, as well as delivering electricity to the Troll facilities on land and offshore.
It will have the capacity to produce 280 megawatts of electricity, or roughly 2.2 terawatt-hours per year, and 350 megawatts of heat.
The heat will be used for direct heating of crude oil and for steam production for other heating purposes in the refinery. The facility will primarily comprise two gas turbines and one steam turbine.
"The Mongstad energy project is important if Statoil is to improve the energy efficiency of the Mongstad complex, and to ensure good, stable energy supplies to the Mongstad and Troll facilities," says Egil Sæl, vice president for business development in Statoil's manufacturing business cluster.
"With this new plant, the refinery's fuel gas will be utilised in a more energy-efficient manner. To begin with, the energy efficiency rate will be about 70 per cent, with opportunities for improvements over time as the refinery is developed. This will then reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide."
The CHP station will form an integrated part of a planned upgrading of the Mongstad refinery. Statoil is implementing the upgrade to strengthen the refinery’s position as an energy- and environmentally-efficient supplier of refined petroleum products, and to further develop a robust and long-term competitive position for Mongstad as an industrial area.