Norway Snøhvit LNG Plant to Resume Output Within Week -Statoil

Norway's Snøhvit liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Hammerfest will restart production within a week, a maintenance officer for owner Statoil said on Monday.

"In a few days, maybe a week, the facility will be back in production," Tore Knudsen, the facility's maintenance manager said.

The plant, Europe's only LNG export facility, has been beset by technical faults that have led to several production stoppages in 2012, including the most recent gas leak in late February, 2013 that led to the plant being evacuated.

Last year Snøhvit, in Arctic Norway, was shut down several times due to a combination of water leaks and planned maintenance.

The Melkeoya island plant produces on average 5.76 billion cubic meters per year for transport by ship to markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Statoil has a 33.53-percent stake in Snøhvit. The other partners in the field are GDF Suez (12 percent), Hess (3.26 percent), Total (18.40 percent), RWE Dea (2.81 percent) and Norwegian state-owned firm Petoro.

--Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Hammerfest; editing by Anthony Barker and Keiron Henderson (C) Reuters 2013.