Chevron says Gorgon Train 1 still offline

Production is still shut at the first liquefaction train of Chevron’s giant Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island offshore Western Australia.

To remind, Chevron halted production at the Gorgon Train 1 about two weeks ago.

“Production from Gorgon LNG Train 1 remains on hold while we address some recent performance variations,” a Chevron spokesman said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

“We continue to produce LNG from Gorgon Train 2 and load cargos. LNG Train 2 ramp-up has been progressing steadily since first production in late October,” the spokesman said.

Production at Chevron’s US$54 billion Gorgon LNG project has been hit several times this year since it shipped its first cargo of the chilled fuel on March 21 .

The LNG facility faced four production interruptions in March, July, in the beginning of November, and the latest one that is still ongoing.

Once in full production, the three-train plant is expected to have a capacity of 15.6 million mt/year.

Gorgon starts domestic gas supplies

In the meantime, while dealing with the Train 1 closure, Chevron’s Australia unit announced the start of domestic gas supply to the Western Australian market from the project.

An initial 150 terajoules per day (Tj/d) of gas is being supplied to foundation customer Synergy and an industry customer under long-term contracts, Chevron Australia said in a statement issued last week.

Domestic gas from the Gorgon project will be transported to the mainland via a 90 kilometre pipeline, connecting into the existing Dampier to Bunbury pipeline.

The Gorgon project is “the most significant entry into the Western Australian domestic gas market for almost thirty years,” Chevron said.

At full capacity and subject to market demand, the Gorgon project could supply up to 300 Tj/d of gas to the Western Australian market, equivalent to generating enough electricity for 2.5 million households.

The Gorgon project is operated by Chevron that owns a 47.3 percent stake, while other shareholders are ExxonMobil (25 percent), Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 percent).

LNG World News Staff