Chevron preparing for Wheatstone LNG maintenance

Chevron’s unit in Australia is preparing to start work on the first major turnaround at its 8.9 mtpa Wheatstone LNG plant near Onslow in Western Australia.

The Wheatstone LNG facility, which shipped its first cargo in 2017, features two trains and a domestic gas plant located at the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Natural gas arrives from the offshore Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar and Brunello gas fields.

“Commencing in September, approximately 500 workers will come together to undertake Wheatstone’s first turnaround,” a Chevron spokesperson told LNG Prime in an emailed statement on Monday.

“Close to 80% of the work done will be undertaken by Western Australian-based companies and suppliers,” the spokesperson said.

First Wheatstone LNG train

The upcoming maintenance will mainly focus on the first Wheatstone LNG train.

To remind, Chevron has previously said in a notice it had planned to shut more than “one LNG train but not greater than one and a half LNG trains” at its Wheatstone facility from September 2 to October 7, 2021.

The firm also said in the notice it had planned to close more than “one-and-a-half of an LNG train” at Wheatstone from April 4 to May 9, 2022. However, these dates could change.

Maintenance works at Wheatstone follow the completion of maintenance and repair works at three Gorgon LNG trains on Barrow Island in Western Australia.

Chevron said in July it had completed repair works on heat exchangers at the third train at its giant 15.6 mtpa Gorgon LNG facility after finding “weld quality issues” that closed the plant’s first and second train.

Also, Chevron said earlier this year it had managed to increase the design capacity at the Gorgon facility by 5 percent and the Wheatstone plant by 9 percent.

Chevron Australia has a 64.14 percent operating stake in Wheatstone. Other partners include KUFPEC (13.4 percent), Woodside (13 percent), and Kyushu Electric (1.46 percent), together with PE Wheatstone, partly owned by JERA (8 percent).

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