Prime minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, petroleum minister Odd Roger Enoksen and environment minister Helen Bjørnøy visited the Kårstø processing complex today, 13 January.
Kårstø has been operating for 20 years and is Norway's most important hub for the treatment of gas and condensate from the Norwegian continental shelf. The ministers were shown an upgraded facility which receives gas from 34 small and large fields.
Last year the Kårstø expansion project (KEP2005) was completed to receive rich gas from the Statoil-operated Kristin field in the Norwegian Sea. Through this expansion, capacity at the plant has increased by 20 per cent, to 88 million standard cubic metres of gas per day.
Dry (sales) gas is sent from Kårstø through the pipeline system to customers in continental Europe.
Natural gas liquids (NGLs) are separated from the rich gas and fractionated into propane, normal and iso butane, naphtha and ethane.
Kårstø has also increased the capacity for ethane production by more than 50 per cent, to roughly 950,000 tonnes annually.
Kårstø is Europe's largest port for export of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG). In addition, roughly four million tonnes of stabilised condensate are dispatched by ship from Kårstø.
The number of ship calls at the plant is about 720 per year.
Gassco is operator for the Kårstø complex, while Statoil serves as technical service provider for the plant.