Chevron says repairs to Wheatstone gas facility to take weeks

By Helen Clark

PERTH, SYDNEY, March 29 (Reuters) - Chevron's CVX.N Wheatstone liquefied natural gas facility in Western Australia is unlikely to resume full production for several weeks as it repairs damage caused by last week's tropical cyclone, the company said on Sunday.

Cyclone Narelle was estimated to have disrupted Australian LNG supply equating to more than 30 million metric tons per year. Combined with the shock from conflict in the Middle East, more than a quarter of global LNG supply has been disrupted, MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic said on Friday.

“While damage assessments continue at both the onshore Wheatstone plant and offshore Wheatstone Platform, it is likely to be a number of weeks before production returns to full rates to allow time for repairs to be safely completed," a Chevron Australia spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The two-train LNG Wheatstone project produces 8.9 million tons a year, about 15% of which is meant to be reserved for the domestic market.

“The Wheatstone gas facility near Onslow has had equipment damage from the severe weather,” the spokesperson confirmed.

Chevron's 15.9 million ton Gorgon LNG export facility and domestic plant continued to operate at full rates, the company said, adding that all of its three trains returned to full production on Sunday.

Australia became the world’s second-largest LNG exporter when Qatar shut down production this month after Iranian airstrikes damaged its facilities. Global LNG flows out of the Middle East have also been upended by Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.

Woodside Energy WDS.AX said on Sunday that Narelle was still interrupting production at the company's Karratha gas plant, the onshore processing facility for the North West Shelf project. The four-train export facility produces 14.3 million tons a year.