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Equinor (EQNR) Stalls Tjeldbergodden Facility Output After Fire

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Equinor ASA (EQNR - Free Report) reported a fire at its Tjeldbergodden industrial facility in Norway on Wednesday, Dec 2. The biggest methanol plant in Europe had to evacuate personnel from the facility and shut down operations. The fire was put out after one hour.

The company followed the emergency response procedures at the site and no staff was injured. It is working on determining the cause of the fire and evaluating the consequences. The Tjeldbergodden industrial facility — officially opened in 1997 — has a methanol plant, a gas terminal and an air separation unit. Due to the fire, the company had to discontinue operations at the air separation unit and methanol plant.

The methanol unit at the Tjeldbergodden facility, with a production capacity of 900,000 tons per annum, produces more than 25% of the European output. It is one of the most energy-efficient plants and has low carbon dioxide emissions. The methanol plant accounts for 10% of consumption in Europe.

Equinor has ConocoPhillips (COP - Free Report) as a partner in the facility. Additionally, the gas terminal receives the commodity from the Heidrun field and has Petoro and a subsidiary of Eni S.p.A. (E - Free Report) as partners.

Last time the Tjeldbergodden facility caught fire was in 2018, which had shut down output for one month. Notably, this September, Equinor’s Barents Sea LNG plant near Hammerfest suffered severe damage from fire. It is also expected to be shut down for a year.

Price Performance

Equinor’s stock has increased 1.7% in the past six months compared with the 6.5% rise for the industry.

Zacks Rank & A Stock to Consider

The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked player in the energy space is Covanta Holding Corporation , holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Its bottom line for 2021 is expected to rise 95.3% year over year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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