NEWS
Woodside says it faces LNG cargo shortfall
Sydney, Sept 1 (LNG journal)
- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., the Australian liquefied natural gas producer, said on Thursday it anticipated a shortfall of at least seven cargoes from the unscheduled shutdown of one of its four North West Shelf processing trains.
Woodside, Australia 's largest oil and gas exploration and production company, said it has shut the train to repair a refrigerant compressor and the work is expected to take at least 30 days.
“The anticipated production shortfall is seven cargoes based on a 30-day shutdown and that is provisional,” Woodside spokeswoman Kirsten Stoney told LNG journal. “We have to inspect inside the compressor before we can better ascertain the damage.”
The company said it was negotiating with customers to avoid missing shipments to mainly Japanese and South Korean customers. But it did not rule out the use of force majeure clauses in contracts.
“Based on a preliminary estimate of 30 days we are down seven cargoes,” Stoney said. The shipment delays would be the first such occurrence at Australia 's only LNG production facility.
The plant, on the Burrup Peninsula, 1200 kilometres north of Perth, has a 16-year record of safe operation and delivery, with more than 1,700 cargoes delivered to customers in Japan, South Korea, the US, Spain, Turkey, Italy and Belgium.
The North West Shelf project is a joint venture between Woodside, BHP Billiton, Chevron Corp., BP, Japan Australia LNG and Shell.
