OSLO- A fire broke out at Equinor's plant at Tjeldbergodden in Norway, the local fire service said on Wednesday.
"We've had reports of a fire at the methanol plant at Tjeldbergodden, and in line with procedures, we've shut down output and are evacuating staff," Equinor spokesman Morten Eek told Norwegian news agency NTB.
Images published by local newspaper Adresseavisen showed a large plume of black smoke rising from the plant.
The Tjeldbergodden facility consists of three plants; a methanol plant, a gas receiving terminal and an air separation plant.
The methanol plant is Europe's largest of its kind, owned by Equinor and ConocoPhillips COP.N , while the gas terminal is owned by Equinor, Petoro, ConocoPhillips and Eni.
The gas terminal is part of the Haltenpipe pipeline, which is operated by Gassco.
The site's air separation plant is owned by Equinor, Aga and ConocoPhillips.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Nerijus Adomaitis and Nora Buli, editing by Gwladys Fouche) ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70))
