Western Australia's (WA) off line LNG projects are restarting some domestic gas production, while the Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) is assessing damage from category 4 tropical cyclone Narelle, which passed through the region late last week.
The ports of Dampier and Ashburton have been checked over, with structural damage to Dampier's general cargo import facilities, rendering the wharf inoperable, PPA said on 31 March.
The bulk liquids terminal is operable, PPA said, meaning fuel imports for the region's major iron ore mines is unaffected.
Ashburton port has also suffered damage to its general cargo wharf and this remains closed, with engineering teams looking over the facilities during the next few days.
The port of Varanus Island — a central gathering and processing hub for oil, gas and condensate supplied by nearby fields, including those operated by Australian independent Santos — has reopened with no impacts to operations, PPA said.
LNG projects recovering
The region's affected LNG projects are slowly returning to production after Narelle took two major plants, the 14.3mn t/yr North West Shelf (NWS) and 8.9mn t/yr Wheatstone terminals, off line late last week.
NWS' Karratha gas plant will be producing at 300 TJ/d and Wheatstone at 20 TJ/d on 1 April, indicating that some volumes are returning on line, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator's WA gas bulletin board, which measures domestic flows.
Wheatstone may take weeks to return to full capacity, Chevron has said, while it returned one train at the 15.6mn t/yr Gorgon LNG terminal, which was taken off line during the cyclone to service on 29 March.
The disruption to supply comes during an already tight supply balance in the Pacific basin, with Qatar's 64.2mn t/yr Ras Laffan terminal pausing production on 2 March due to the US-Iran war.
Domestic gas flows fell from 1,202 TJ/d on 24 March to 558 TJ/d on 29 March due to Narelle's impacts, forcing alumina refineries run by US producer Alcoa to slash output temporarily.
31032026065230.jpg)
