6 October 2014, News Wires – Statoil and state-run partner Statkraft are mothballing their Kaarsto gas power plant on Norway’s west coast after racking up heavy losses on the facility.
The pair, each of which own 50% in the Naturkraft joint venture that runs the plant, have seen annual losses of Nkr100 million ($15.3 million) on operations due to low utilisation in recent years.
Naturkraft has now decided to effectively halt operations at the plant by switching it to “preservation” mode, saying in a statement that it is not likely to see any significant activity over the next four to five years.
The venture admitted the plant, opened in 2007, had not developed as anticipated at the time investments in it were made.
Many of the 32 staff currently working at the facility north of Stavanger in south-west Norway are set to be laid off, with only a handful to be retained for future manning.
The effective shutdown of the plant further diminishes potential for domestic usage of gas found off Norway, much of which is exported to Europe via pipeline.
Statoil is delaying new field projects, curbing drilling work and laying off staff as part of a wide-ranging cost-cutting effort to save more than $5 billion in investments between this year and 2016.
– Upstream
