Chevron’s unit in Australia expects to complete repair activities on the Wheatstone offshore platform, which provides gas to the onshore LNG plant, in the coming weeks.
Chevron Australia suspended operations on the offshore platform on June 10 to repair the platform’s fuel gas system.
As the platform provides gas to Wheatstone’s onshore facilities near Onslow, Western Australia, LNG and domestic gas production has been suspended as well.
A Chevron Australia spokesperson told LNG Prime on Thursday that the company had started repair activities on the Wheatstone platform “which are expected to be completed in coming weeks”.
“LNG and domestic gas production will resume following the safe completion of the repair works,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson did not provide further information.
Chevron Australia has advised the WA domestic gas market (AEMO’s Gas Bulletin Board) that supply is currently scheduled to return by June 27, 2024.
This means that the company could restart the plant in about two weeks from now, but this date may change in the meantime depending on the repair activities.
Wheatstone and Gorgon
Chevron Australia recently resumed full production at its Gorgon LNG terminal in Western Australia following a “mechanical fault” which affected one LNG production train.
In October last year, Chevron and its workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG terminals agreed on new labor agreements following lengthy negotiations between Chevron and unions representing the workers.
The Wheatstone foundation project consists of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 mtpa, and the domestic gas plant.
Also, the offshore processing platform is located in 70 meters of water, about 225km from the coast.
The offshore facilities gather and partially process gas and associated condensate from the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar, and Brunello gas fields, and deliver it onshore via trunkline for further processing.
The project was sanctioned in late 2011, with first shipment of LNG announced in October 2017.
Chevron operates the project with a 64.14 stake and other shareholders include KUFPEC (13.4 percent), Woodside (13 percent), and Kyushu Electric (1.46 percent), together with PE Wheatstone, part-owned by Jera (8 percent).