Europe’s only liquefied natural gas plant has been shut down after operator Statoil discovered a leak last night.
The Snøhvit plant, near Melkøya in arctic Norway, was shut down and depressurisation carried out after the leak was discovered last night.
The plant, which handles more than 20m cubic metres of gas per day, suffered a leak in a pump shaft and remains out of services, a spokesman for the company said.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, with investigations into the cause now underway.