
Chevron Australia Pty Ltd has announced it expects the repairs to the heat exchangers at LNG Train 2 at the Gorgon plant site on Barrow Island off the north-west coast of Western Australia will be finalised and allow for the restart of production at Train 2 in October 2020.
The weld quality issues were discovered during scheduled maintenance in July 2020. Following ongoing technical work, Chevron says that it will be ‘further refining’ its approach and has decided some welds in targeted areas will require additional work.
Chevron has discussed its plans with the regulator and will maintain alignment on its requirements for inspections and repairs on the Gorgon heat exchangers and the sequencing of work on Gorgon Trains 1 and 3.
“Insights gained from the Train 2 repairs will contribute to more efficient inspections and potential repairs on Trains 1 and 3,” the company said on Thursday.
“Chevron and the regulator share the same goal of maintaining the safety of our workforce and operating facilities.”
“We continue to provide natural gas to the Western Australian domestic market and LNG to customers under our contractual commitments.”
About the Gorgon Project
Gorgon is one of the world’s largest LNG projects and the largest single resource project in Australia’s history.
The project comprises a three-train, 15.6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) LNG facility and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 terajoules of gas per day to Western Australia.
Gorgon’s first LNG cargo departed Barrow Island on 21 March 2016 and domestic gas supply to the Western Australian market commenced in December 2016.
The Gorgon Project is operated by Chevron Australia and is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3 per cent), ExxonMobil (25 per cent), Shell (25 per cent), Osaka Gas (1.25 per cent), Tokyo Gas (1 per cent) and JERA (0.417 per cent).