Norway's Statoil has ordered the construction of an LNG barge from IZAR Fene Shipyard to serve as support for a gas liquefaction plant. The LNG barge, scheduled to be completed in August 2003, will house on its deck about 24,000 tons of processing equipment for the plant, which will convert natural gas from the Snøhvit field into liquefied natural gas (LNG). About 70 cargoes of LNG per year will be shipped out from this floating plant. The barge will be 505 ft. long, 177 ft. wide and 30 ft. high. It will have a net 8,500 tonne weight of steel. The deal was signed on June 28 in Munich by Statoil’s Fabrication Director, Odvar Birkedal, and the Spanish yard Managing Director, Santiago García.