Processing plants
Gassco operates three Norwegian gas processing plants, namely the Kårstø processing plant, the Kollsnes processing plant and the Nyhamna processing plant.
The Kårstø plant, north of Stavanger, plays a key role in the transport and treatment of gas and condensate (light oil) from central parts of the Norwegian continental shelf. This facility separates the rich gas arriving in the Statpipe and Åsgard Transport pipelines into its various components. It also handles unstabilised condensate piped from the Sleipner area. These flows yield methane, ethane, propane, iso and normal butane, naphtha (natural gasoline) and stabilised condensate.
Dry gas – methane and some ethane – is transported on through Statpipe dry gasand Europipe II, while the natural gas liquids and condensate are exported by ship.Kårstø ranks as one of the world's largest producers of liquefied petroleum gases – propane and butanes – and this LPG is shipped to customers world-wide. The facility had 638 ship calls in 2006 to load LPG, naphtha and stabilised condensate. Propane is stored in two large artificial rock caverns with a combined capacity of 250 000 m3. Ethane, normal and iso butane, naphtha and stabilised condensate are held in tanks. First gas reached the complex on 25 July 1985 through a pipeline from the Statfjord field in the North Sea, and the first dry gas was piped on to Emden in Germany on 15 October that year. Kårstø runs primarily on fuel gas. Five of its nine compressors use this energy source, while the remaining four are electrically powered.
The gas processing plant at Kollsnes forms part of the Troll Gas development, and became operational on 1 October 1996. The processing capacity at Kollsnes has been increased several times since the facility became operational. Today the daily processing capacity is up to 143 million scm of gas and 69 000 barrels of NGL, piped in from the Troll, Kvitebjørn and Visund fields. The increased capacity at Kollsnes is a result of several considerable investments. In 2004 a new NGL extraction plant started up, in 2005 a new compressor was installed on the Troll A platform and in 2006 a sixth export compressor became operational at Kollsnes. The treatment process at Kollsnes involves separating out the NGL, and compressing the dry gas for export via Statpipe, Zeepipe, Europipe I and Franpipe. The Vestprosess system ties Kollsnes to the oil refinery at Mongstad with a pipeline for NGL. Gas has been delivered from the Troll processing plant to the nearby Kollsnes Industry Park since 1999.
