The Snøhvit project has decided to charter the M/S Jupiter hotel ship to increase the overall accommodation capacity at the Statoil-operated Hammerfest LNG plant at Melkøya in northern Norway.
With about 500 new rooms on Jupiter, the project will have more latitude when tackling peak staffing periods, as well as the flexibility required to enable completion work at the plant to be carried out as efficiently as possible. The ship will be berthed by the product jetty on the island.
"We now have more control over progress and a better overview of what is needed to reach our targets with regard to the schedule and budgets now established for the project," says Snøhvit project director Odd Mosbergvik.
The engineering is still proving to be a bottleneck, which means that completion and system tests will be later than planned.
With the increased accommodation capacity, Statoil will be able to increase the number of hours worked at the plant each week from the current 40-50,000 to around 75,000.
Mr Mosbergvik points out that the construction work on the island is challenging, and completion will be demanding.
"We took this into account when we last updated the cost estimates and project plan for Snøhvit," he adds.
He states that the measures now being implemented will ensure that Statoil meets its deadlines and keeps within its budget.