Arctic boom town lit up by gas development

HAMMERFEST, Norway (Reuters) – A 100-metre-high flame from a new gas plant symbolizes the rebirth of Hammerfest, which claims to be the world’s northernmost town and is seeing its fortunes transformed by fossil fuels found off its coast.

The huge flame atop a 150-metre (492 feet) Snoehvit flare tower lit Hammerfest streets like a full moon for a month, even though it burned two kilometers away. Its roar when it flared echoed across the town, like the sound of a jet engine.

The Snoehvit gas project, run by Norwegian group Statoil, is the first development in the Barents Sea and first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Arctic — a region that may hold a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Reuters