Chevron said that previously reported liquefied natural gas (LNG) production outages in Western Australia have deepened due to severe weather in the region and that production will resume once safe conditions are restored.
In a statement to Anadolu on Friday, Chevron Australia noted that harsh weather directly affected operations and that production would return to full capacity only after safety conditions are ensured.
According to Chevron, "about 12 pm AWST yesterday (Thursday 26 March), an outage occurred at the offshore Wheatstone Platform which is located about 225 kilometres off Western Australia’s coast." The platform supplies feed gas to Wheatstone’s onshore facilities near Onslow, and "LNG and domestic gas production has been suspended."
"As is standard practice during significant weather events, all personnel were demobilized from the Wheatstone Platform ahead of the cyclone passing, which has been operated remotely from our Perth office since Tuesday afternoon," the statement read.
The company also reported that "the Gorgon gas facility, located on Barrow Island, also experienced an outage at about 3 pm AWST yesterday with one of the three LNG production trains affected. The remaining two LNG production trains and domestic gas facility continue to operate."
Chevron highlighted that "severe weather associated with the passing of Tropical Cyclone Narelle likely caused the interruptions to both Gorgon and Wheatstone operations."
It confirmed that "the company will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so."
Western Australia plays a key role in global LNG supply, and weather-related outages in the region can trigger short-term fluctuations in shipments, especially to Asian markets.
Australia’s largest LNG export facility, Gorgon, operates three processing trains and produces 15.6 million metric tons annually, while the smaller Wheatstone facility has two trains with an annual output of 8.9 million tons.
Meanwhile, recent developments in the global LNG market, including potential "force majeure" notifications from producers such as QatarEnergy, have raised concerns over supply security, and combined with the Australian outages, may increase volatility in spot LNG markets.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
