Chevron reports outage at Australian gas facilities due to cyclone

SYDNEY, March 27 (Reuters) - Chevron CVX.N said on Friday it was working to restore production at its Gorgon and Wheatstone liquefied natural gas facilities in Australia following production outages that likely happened because of Tropical Cyclone Narelle.

"We will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so," a Chevron Australia spokesperson said.

An outage occurred at the Wheatstone Platform, about 225 km (140 miles) off Australia's west coast, about midday on Thursday local time (0400 GMT), causing a suspension of onshore gas production, the company said.

"As is standard practice during significant weather events, all personnel were demobilised from the Wheatstone Platform ahead of the cyclone passing, which has been operated remotely from our Perth office since Tuesday afternoon," the spokesperson said.

Three hours later, an outage shut down one of three LNG production trains at the Gorgon facility on Barrow Island, about 50 km offshore.

The suspensions add to pressure on the global LNG market which has been upended by the Strait of Hormuz being effectively closed and production leader Qatar shutting down production this month due to the war on Iran.

Narelle, a category 3 system, has led to the closure of several key iron ore and LNG ports in Western Australia.