Chevron Reports Extensive Cyclone Damage at Wheatstone LNG Facility in Australia, Full Production Delayed for Weeks
Chevron Corporation said on Tuesday that downstream infrastructure at its Wheatstone LNG Plant in Western Australia sustained significant damage following a tropical cyclone, leaving both production trains temporarily offline.
Danny Woodall confirmed that the two liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing trains at the 8.9-million-tonne-per-year facility remain shut after Tropical Cyclone Narelle struck the region last week.
Speaking at the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference in Sydney, Woodall said critical cooling infrastructure had been affected.
“We have a number of fin fans, or air-cooled heat exchangers, that sustained damage,” he said.
“We currently have a dedicated team working to repair the affected equipment.”
Woodall noted that the damage at the Wheatstone facility was more severe than that experienced at the Gorgon LNG Plant Australia’s largest LNG export project and exceeded the impact of previous cyclones that have hit the region.
Chevron indicated earlier that the Wheatstone plant is unlikely to return to full production for several weeks while repair work continues.
The disruption underscores the vulnerability of critical energy infrastructure to extreme weather events and highlights the operational risks facing major liquefied natural gas producers in cyclone-prone regions.
