Kårstø is an industrial facility located near the village of

Susort Susort is a village in Tysvær municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the eastern shore of the Førlandsfjorden, about south of the village of Tysvær. The European route E39 highway runs just outside the village. ...

, along the

Boknafjorden Boknafjord or Boknafjorden () is a fjord located in Rogaland county, Norway. The huge fjord lies between the cities of Stavanger and Haugesund and dominates the central part of the county. The main part of the fjord is shared between the municip ...

, in the municipality of

Tysvær Tysvær is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Haugalandet Districts of Norway, region. The municipality is located on the Haugalandet peninsula on the northern side ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The site features a number of natural gas processing plants that refine

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

and condensate from the fields in the northern parts of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, including the

Åsgard In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr''; "Garden of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in several Old Norse sagas and mythological texts, including the Eddas, however it has also been suggested to be refe ...

, Mikkel, and Sleipner gas fields. The Kårstø processing complex is Europe's biggest export port for

natural gas liquids Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natura ...

(NGL) and the third largest in the world. The industrial site is also the location for the now-closed Kårstø Power Station.

Operation

The first plant on the site opened on 25 July 1985 and it exported the first gas to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on October 15 of that year. Gas is transported from the North Sea via Statpipe and Åsgard Transport. Condensate is received from the Sleipner field and stabilised and fractionated in a separate plant that started operation in 1993. About of stabilised condensate are exported from Kårstø each year, by ship.

Natural Gas Liquids Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natura ...

(NGL) are separated from the rest of the gas and split into

propane Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...

butane Butane () is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane exists as two isomers, ''n''-butane with connectivity and iso-butane with the formula . Both isomers are highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gases that quickly vaporize at ro ...

isobutane Isobutane, also known as ''i''-butane, 2-methylpropane or methylpropane, is a chemical compound with molecular formula HC(CH3)3. It is an isomer of butane. Isobutane is a colorless, odorless gas. It is the simplest alkane with a tertiary carbon a ...

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

, and

ethane Ethane ( , ) is a naturally occurring Organic compound, organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is List of purification methods ...

. The propane is stored in two large mountain halls with a total capacity of . The rest of the refined products are stored in tanks. The facility is the third largest export port for

Liquefied Petroleum Gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

(LPG) in the world and exported all around the globe. In 2002, 575 shiploads of LPG, ethane, naphtha, and stabilised condensate were sent.

Gassnova Gassnova SF is the Norwegian state enterprise for carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, t ...

has been engaged for the development of technology for full-scale CO₂-capture at the

gas-fired power plant A gas-fired power plant, sometimes referred to as gas-fired power station, natural gas power plant, or methane gas power plant, is a thermal power station that burns natural gas to generate electricity. Gas-fired power plants generate almost a ...

and large-scale transport and geological storage of CO₂ from Kårstø. Annual ethane production is and this is sold on long term agreements to the companies Borealis, I/S Noretyl, and

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

. Dry gas is exported via

Europipe II Europipe II is a natural gas pipeline from the Kårstø processing plant north of Stavanger to a receiving terminal at Dornum in Germany. It came on stream on 1 October 1999. Route It starts from Kårstø processing plant and runs about ons ...

Dornum Dornum is a village and a municipality in the East Frisian district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located near the North Sea coast, approx. 15 km east of Norden, and 20 km north of Aurich. Division of the municipality The ...

in Germany and via Statpipe and Norpipe to

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

. The pipes are owned by

Gassled Gassled is a partnership to own the offshore natural gas transportation infrastructure at the Norwegian continental shelf. Its pipelines are operated by Gassco. Gassled was created in 2002 and it became operational on 1 January 2003. Its origi ...

and operated by

Gassco Gassco is a Norwegian state owned company that operates of natural gas pipes and associated riser platforms and land-based facilities transporting annually of 100 billion cubic meter (bcm) of natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf ...

. The company Naturkraft (owned by

Statkraft Statkraft AS is a hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is ac ...

and Statoil) operated the Kårstø Power Station, a

-fired

thermal power plant A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

at Kårstø from 2007 until 2014.

Operation

References

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