Narelle still disrupting Australia LNG as it weakens from tropical cyclone

SYDNEY – The Narelle storm system continued disrupting production at two of Australia’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on March 28 as the former tropical cyclone weakened in the country’s north-west.

Narelle, which has crossed Queensland state and Northern Territory since making landfall as a category four tropical cyclone on March 20, hit Western Australia on March 26, affecting LNG plants run by Chevron and Woodside.

The storm’s impact exacerbated a global supply crunch caused by the Iran war.

Chevron Australia was working to restore production at its Gorgon and Wheatstone gas facilities following production outages due to Narelle, a spokesperson said.

“Severe weather associated with the passing of tropical cyclone Narelle likely caused the interruptions to both Gorgon and Wheatstone operations,” the spokesperson said. “We will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so.”

Gorgon is Australia’s largest LNG export facility, producing 15.6 million metric tons a year with three processing trains, while Wheatstone has two trains producing 8.9 million tons.

Woodside said a “production interruption due to the cyclone” continued at its Karratha gas plant, the onshore processing facility for the North West Shelf project, while production was uninterrupted at its Macedon and Pluto facilities.

“Production at the North West Shelf Project is expected to recommence after Woodside is able to mobilise its workforce to its offshore facilities,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The Port of Dampier, one of several key iron ore and LNG ports ​in Western Australia that closed on ‌March 26 due to Narelle, reopened on March 28, but “general cargo import operations” remained suspended, the port operator said.

An “inspection has identified significant asset damage across Pilbara Ports general cargo precinct, caused by destructive winds, wave uplift forces, swell, and storm surge”, with port access restricted to key personnel, it said.

The Port of Ashburton, about 100km north, would remain closed until inspections were completed, it added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Narelle remained dangerous despite the downgrade.

The federal government was “ready to assist with the recovery,” he said in televised remarks.

The ex-cyclone was east of the town of Geraldton, about 375km north of Western Australia’s state capital Perth, and weakening as it moved south to south-east, Australia’s weather forecaster said.

“It is expected to continue tracking quickly south to south-east over land while weakening further during today,” the forecaster said on its website.

Australia became the world’s second-largest LNG exporter after Qatar shut down production in March following damage to its facilities from Iranian strikes.

Global LNG flows out of the Middle East have also been upended by Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz during the war launched in February by the US and Israel. REUTERS