Chevron estimates repairs at Wheatstone gas plant will take weeks

The company stated on Sunday that it is likely to take several weeks for the Wheatstone Liquefied Natural Gas facility in Western Australia to fully resume production as they repair damage caused by the cyclone last week.

The Australian LNG supply was disrupted by Cyclone Narelle, a disruption of more than 30,000,000 metric tons per annum. Saul Kavonic, MST Marquee analyst, said on Friday that the Middle East conflict and the cyclone Narelle have combined to disrupt more than a quarter of global LNG supply.

In an email, a Chevron Australia spokesperson said that damage assessments are still ongoing at the Wheatstone onshore plant and the Wheatstone offshore platform. It will be several weeks before production rates return to normal. This is to give time for repairs to be completed safely.

The LNG Wheatstone two-train project produces 8,9 million tonnes a year. About 15% of that amount is intended to be reserved for domestic consumption.

The spokesperson confirmed that the Wheatstone Gas Facility near Onslow had suffered equipment damage due to the extreme weather. Chevron said that its 15.9 million ton Gorgon LNG export facility, as well as domestic plant, continued to run at full rate.

Qatar's production was shut down this month by Iranian airstrikes after they damaged their facilities. Australia then became the world's second-largest LNG supplier. Iran's blocking of the Strait of Hormuz has also impacted global LNG?flows from the Middle East.

Woodside Energy announced on Sunday that Narelle?was?still interrupting production? at its Karratha gas plant. This is the onshore?processing?facility for the North West Shelf Project. The four-train facility exports 14.3 million tonnes a year.

(source: Reuters)