Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG Plant Remains Offline Due to Cyclone Damage

(Credit: Chevron)

Chevron said on Tuesday that downstream assets at its Wheatstone liquefied natural gas plant in Western Australia suffered extensive cyclone damage, leaving both production trains offline.

Danny Woodall, Chevron's director of operations and maintenance for Australia, said the two LNG processing trains at the 8.9 million-ton-a-year facility remained shut after Tropical Cyclone Narelle struck the region last week.

"We have a number of fin fans or air-cooled heat exchangers that sustained some damage," he told the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference in Sydney.

"We've got a dedicated team right now that is working on getting those repaired."

The damage at Wheatstone was more extensive than that sustained at its Gorgon plant, Australia's largest LNG export facility, and worse than from previous cyclones to hit the area, he added.

Chevron on Sunday said Wheatstone was unlikely to resume full production for several weeks because of the damage.

Chevron is a U.S.-based energy major with significant LNG operations in Australia.

(Reuters - Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Sumana Nandy)