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Norway's StatoilHydro has begun a scheduled shutdown of its Mongstad refinery and oil terminal for two months in order to perform maintenance.

Work will be carried out on a number of units during the two-month period and the facility will be completely shut down for 16 days. Partial closures will affect all parts of the refinery and quay facilities.

"As far as we know this is the most extensive service ever performed onshore in Norway. The goal is to make improvements which ensure stable and safe operations of the plant until the next scheduled shutdown in 2013, and prepare for the connection to the new combined power and heating plant," said Mongstad manager Kjell Petter Aanes.

Approximately 400,000 man-hours will be performed in total during the 60-day scheduled shutdown period. During this time, contractors and StatoilHydro personnel will carry out a number of tasks, which will include performing condition monitoring of equipment and pipes; replacing defective equipment; and cleaning equipment for deposits, mud and coke.

The 189,000 barrels-per-day Mongstad plant is the largest of two refineries in Norway. The facility supplies a number of bunker stations in the country, which vary in size from large storage terminals with pipeline facilities to small depots with a fuel pump.

Mongstad also is one of Europe's largest ports in terms of cargo volumes, with a very high throughput of oil tankers. StatoilHydro is able to supply 380-centistoke (cst)and marine gasoil (MGO) to tankers working cargo there.

Apart from Mongstad, output from the refinery is also used to supply the port of Bergen, Norway's leading bunkering centre. Maintenance work over the next two months may have a knock-on-effect on product availability in both Mongstad and Bergen, particularly during the 16-day period when the plant will be completely shut down, according to local sources.

The refinery is scheduled to resume normal production in early November, StatoilHydro said earlier this week.