Chevron aims for Nov restart of LNG production at Australia's Gorgon plant

[SINGAPORE] Chevron Corp said late on Friday it expects liquefied natural gas production at Train 2 of its Gorgon LNG plant in Western Australia to resume in the second half of November, delaying it a second time.

Train 2 at Australia's second-largest LNG plant has been shut since May for maintenance, which was extended after cracks were found in the production unit's propane kettles.

The company had initially hoped to complete the repairs by early September, and was further delayed to October as more time was needed for repair work.

Weld repairs are complete with the Train now in the process of getting back online and Chevron has started the recommisioning process from the maintenance and the extended maintenance, said Chevron Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber in the company's third quarter earnings call on Friday.

"The next steps are to dry out the system and then we'll begin cool down - we expect this to take several weeks which will put first LNG production in the second half of November," he added.

Chevron will shut Train 1 once Train 2 is back online and will then inspect it and determine if repairs are needed and how long it will be down for. This will be followed by Train 3, added Mr Breber.

The Gorgon plant produces 15.6 million tonnes of LNG annually, equating to about 4.5 per cent of global LNG trade in 2019.

The company is operator and 47.3 per cent owner of Gorgon. Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Group own 25 per cent stake each, with the rest held by Japan's Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and JERA .

REUTERS