Skip to main content

Statoil takes measures to improve safety at Melkøya LNG plant

Published by , Editor - Hydrocarbon Engineering
Hydrocarbon Engineering,


Statoil has recently purchased 300 FX60 floodlights to further improve the safety of the people working at the LNG plant at Melkøya. The Melkøya plant in Northern Norway is the world’s northernmost liquefied natural gas facility. The gas is transported from the gas field Snøhvit, which is the first offshore development in the Barents Sea. For Statoil, safety for the people working at the Melkøya plant is a top priority. When a new risk analysis indicated that also floodlights 25 m up in the air can be exposed to gas and therefore should be explosion proof, Statoil decided to replace all their floodlights at Melkøya with the new FX60 LED floodlights from Glamox.

“The main reason we picked the FX60 is that it allows us to significantly reduce the maintenance cost. With regular floodlights we have large costs every time maintenance is needed, because we need a lift to access the luminaries,” said Principal Engineer in Statoil, Klaus Tingvold.

The reason for the drop of the maintenance cost is that the FX60 has no flame path. A flame path triggers mandatory maintenance inspections every three years.

Another reason for choosing a product from Glamox was the lighting calculation provided in association with the project. Glamox did the calculations and adjusted the luminaries to achieve the correct light levels,” Tingvold explained.

Statoil will also be saving money on electricity as a consequence of the project. "We try to reduce our electricity consumption where we can. It’s a case of taking all the small steps that adds up to a significant reduction,” Tingvold said.

The FX60 luminaires are placed around the main processing plant. Here they provide the appropriate light level throughout the long, dark polar winter which characterises this part of Norway. "In case of an emergency blackout the floodlights are powered by generators to ensure a secure evacuation,” Tingvold added.

When autumn and winter can last for nine months, robust outdoor lighting is required. The FX60 has a wide ambient temperature range from, -50°C to +55°C, but the new advanced integrated circuit LED driver is the most important advantage of the luminaire.

“The drivers are the weakest link in most LED solutions. The IC driver of the FX60 however gives an estimated product lifetime of 120 000 hours, or 14 years, highly improved system efficiency and negligible maintenance,” Glamox's Carsten Bonderup said.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/10112016/statoil-takes-measures-to-improve-safety-at-melkya-lng-plant/

You might also like

TotalEnergies and SINOPEC join forces to produce SAF

TotalEnergies and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (SINOPEC) have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) to jointly develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production unit at a SINOPEC's refinery in China.

 
 

Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):