The police in Finnmark report a gas leak at Equinor’s facility in Hammerfest. The emergency services are on their way to the scene. It is unknown how big the gas leak is, or whether anyone was injured in the incident. According to Equinor, they have obtained an overview of where on the plant the gas leak has occurred. All employees have been evacuated and all of the emergency services in Hammerfest have responded. – The information we have received so far is that there is a gas leak at our processing plant on Melkøya, says Ellen Maria Skjelbæk, press contact at Equinor. According to Skjelbæk, personnel have been evacuated from the area where the gas leak is, but there are still personnel on the island. – We have formed our emergency organization and the emergency services are with us in this situation. A safety zone of 300 meters has been established after a gas leak was reported at Equinor’s facility on Melkøya in Hammerfest on Wednesday morning. – As a precautionary measure, we have procedures that we do when there are gas leaks and what we are doing now is depressurizing the plant, she says. The municipality is monitoring the situation Hammerfest municipality has not set up a crisis team, but is following the incident on Melkøya closely. It has been almost three years since the facility suffered a dramatic fire. – I see no reason for further reaction from the municipality’s side, based on the information we now have. I see they have set a safety distance of 300 meters and it does not reach the city centre. We are waiting so far, says mayor Terje Wikstrøm in Hammerfest. He believes there is no reason for people to be worried. – There is no reason why people should have a greater fear than that there has been a gas leak. If there is a larger scope for this, then we will get back to our residents about it, he says.
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Responding to a gas leak on Melkøya – news Troms and Finnmark
