By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Sept. 7 -- Statoil said Friday it will build a cavern for the storage of liquid propane at its 200,000-b/d Mongstad refinery near Bergen.
Last year a rock fall in the existing cavern caused severe ice formation and reduced storage capacity.
The Vestprosess partners, which operate the refinery, determined it would not be possible to repair the damage and decided to build a new cavern by November 2003.
Costs are estimated at 180 million kroner. Construction contracts will be signed by the end of October.
The existing cavern, which came into use 2 years ago, is 33 m high, 20 m wide and has a storage capacity of 60,000 cu m.
"Although the cavern has been tight for the last year, we now have a much lower storage volume than we had planned," said Vestprosess vice-president John Stangenes.
The new cavern will be about the same size as the old one, and it will be built nearby in the refinery area.
The Vestprosess partners blamed the ice problems on an error in construction and have reported the matter to their insurance company.
The partners are Statoil with 17%, Petoro 41%, Norsk Hydro 17%, ExxonMobil 10%, Norske Shell 8%, TotalFinaElf 5%, and Norske Conoco 2%.