Gorgon LNG repairs nearing completion, production restart expected in May

Chevron said on Friday it expects to resume production at its US$54 billion Gorgon LNG project in Australia in May after the Barrow Island facility was shut down due to mechanical problems.

Repair works on the propane refrigerant circuit on Train 1 at the plant site are nearing completion, Joe Geagea, Chevron’s executive vice president for technology, projects and services, told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call.

“We are in the process of reinstating the propane refrigerant circuit,” Geagea said, adding that Chevron expects to restart Train 1 in the next few weeks.

Chevron announced in April that a mechanical issue in the propane refrigerant circuit on Train 1 at the plant site halted production soon after the first cargo departed from the facility on March 21.

US-based Chevron said it expected that the repair works would last 30-60 days. The company did not elaborate on how much the repair works would cost.

“We still expect to achieve Train 1 ramp-up within the previous guidance of six to eight months from initial start-up,” Geagea added.

At full capacity, the plant on Barrow Island will have the capacity to produce 15.6 mtpa of LNG using feedgas from the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields, located within the Greater Gorgon area, between 80 miles (130 km) and 136 miles (220 km) off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

The largest single resource project ever developed in Australia 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