Hammerfest Shutdown Freezes Europe’s LNG Lifeline

Another year, another hiccup at Hammerfest LNG. Equinor’s crown jewel in Arctic Norway is down again, this time thanks to a compressor failure, according to a regulatory statement from Gassco. Output has screeched to a halt until Jan. 9, leaving Europe’s largest LNG export plant offline for a week—because, apparently, the Arctic air isn’t the only thing freezing up. Hammerfest LNG, or Melkoeya if you prefer its less industrial moniker, packs a punch, delivering enough gas to heat 6.5 million European homes. That’s…