Short circuit at Ormen Lange's gas plant shuts output

Aerial view of Ormen Lange’s gas processing plant, operated by Shell. Photo courtesy of Shell.

(Reuters) Gas production from Norway's Ormen Lange field was shut after an onshore gas processing plant lost power supplies due to a short circuit, its operator Royal Dutch Shell said.

A gas leak that was reported by the local police earlier occurred at a power substation from electrical equipment, not from the plant itself, a spokeswoman for the company said.

"It wasn't a hydrocarbon leak, so it's not as dramatic as it was reported before," Shell's spokeswoman Kitty Eide said.

She couldn't immediately say when the plant will restart gas production.

Without power, which drives compressors that help to lift gas from the offshore field and to export it, the plant cannot operate.

Norway's gas system operator Gassco said output from the Nyhamna plant would be cut by 15 MMcmpd.

The plant has been producing on average about 50 MMcmpd this year.

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Gwladys Fouche and David Evans

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