.
The city lies 70° 39' 48" north and achieved its town status on the 7th of July 1789, making it the oldest town
in northern Norway. The town was founded because of its natural harbour, something which is equally important
today for Hammerfests economic foundation.

Despite its geographical position, Hammerfest has maintained its international connections.
As early as 1852, the first international measurement of the earths circumference was completed in Hammerfest,
and in 1891 Hammerfest was the first town in northern Europe with electric street lighting.

Not too much space for building more houses, so the big hotel-ship to the left, is kept there as
a place for the workers to stay while working at Melkøya. (See below)



Way back in the background you can see the Melkøya (island) where the LNG are receiving gas from the Barent Sea.


This picture shows the barracks where the workers live,
there are some 1200 rooms there showers and toilets.

The Snohvit LNG project is being constructed to exploit the resources of three gas fields in the Barent Sea;
Snohvit, Albatross and Askeladd (240m to 345m deep), which lie about 140km northwest of Hammerfest in Norway.
These fields have estimated reserves of 300 billion m³ of LNG and 20 million m³ of condensate.
The gas production system will be one of the first in Europe to use a subsea production platform,
which will feed gas via 160km of pipeline to a new processing plant on Melkoya Island near Hammerfest.

While this is being built up, there will be an international diversity of people here.
According to what they have learned previously, there will come several thousand workers,
may be up to 6.000 people in the many different kinds of jobs involved.

Photo courtesy: STATOIL

Development of fluid gas is kept within a closed system. Throgh a 145 km long tube it is then forwarded to
Melkøya, and loaded into big 'tanks'. The gas is then shipped to costumers in USA and Spain every 6th day.
Newly built special tankers built in Japan etc. are used for transportation.

The November 2004 launch of the Arctic Discoverer, the first of four LNG carriers
that will serve Snøhvit when gas begins to flow in 2006.
Photo © Statoil

LNG is methane that has been supercooled beyond the point at which it turns to liquid (-163 degrees Celsius).
It occupies 1/600th the volume of gas and can be loaded safely into insulated ship tanks.
Japan, South Korea and China have been importing LNG from Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia for
decades.But the most current activity is found in the Atlantic Ocean.
Predominantly due to growth there, analysts expect global LNG output to nearly double by 2010, with today’s
fleet of 160 LNG ships reaching 300.

Many of the new vessels – specially built for the colder, choppier waters of the Atlantic – will have Norwegian technology, officers and owners. Much of the LNG they carry will be Norwegian, too, as Europe’s largest gas-
producing country spearheads the development of “floating pipelines” across the Atlantic.

On top of one of the hills sorrounding Hammerfest is this watchtower.



Notice the windshovel on top of the mast, with an icebear to catch the wind.

< Previous page - Next page >