Norway's Gas Maintenance to Peak in May, September

Maintenance on Norwegian gas fields and processing facilities in 2016 will peak towards the end of May and in early September, gas system operator Gassco said on Wednesday.

Norway is the biggest gas supplier to western Europe and provides one fifth of European Union consumption.

Production capacity will be reduced by 144.5 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from May 28 to June 9, when the Kollsnes gas processing plant will shut for maintenance.

Production at Norway's biggest gas field, Troll, which delivers gas to Kollsnes, will also be shut during that period.

Norway has been producing gas at a maximum of 360 mcm/day this year.

Maintenance will peak again in early September, due to work scheduled at Kollsnes and Kaarstoe gas processing plants. Production capacity is expected to be reduced by 146.5 mcm/day on September 2-6.

The first maintenance work on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) next year is planned at the entry SEGAL pipeline system on Feb. 8-9, with export capacity reduced by 18 mcm/day.

Exports to Britain's Easington terminal will be reduced by 36 mcm per day from April 19 until May 3.

The terminal is a landing point of the Langeled pipeline, Britain's main subsea gas import route.

Norway is expected to pipe record high volumes of gas to Europe this year.

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis