BHP shuts oil output of about 90,600 bpd due to cyclone
BHP Billiton Ltd, Australia's largest oil and gas producer, said it had shut in over 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production at two of its fields in Australia's remote northwest due to a tropical cyclone.
By Agencies |
SYDNEY: BHP Billiton Ltd, Australia's largest oil and gas producer, said it had shut in over 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production at two of its fields in Australia's remote northwest due to a tropical cyclone.
Production at its 80,000 bpd Stybarrow field, as well as its 10,600 bpd Griffin field, had been suspended since Sunday morning, said BHP's spokeswoman Emma Meade. "We are now waiting for the seas to calm before resuming operations," Meade said.
The company's iron ore mining operations in the Pilbara region were unaffected, she said. Government meteorologists on Sunday cancelled cyclone warnings along the coast as category two tropical cyclone Melanie, packing winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour (94 miles per hour), was moving away from the coast and was expected to remain offshore.
Other operators affected by the cyclone were also set to resume production. A spokesman from US oil major Chevron said on Sunday that operations on Barrow Island would return to full production by Sunday evening after being shut in overnight, while output from its Thevanard Island field would resume by Monday.
The fields have a combined production of about 8,000 barrels per day (bpd). A spokesman for Santos Ltd, which shut its 5,000 bpd Mutineer-Exeter field over the weekend, said production was expected to resume by Monday evening. Woodside Petroleum Ltd, operator of the North West Shelf gas project off the coast of Western Australia, has experienced no impact from the storm, spokeswoman Kirsten Stoney said on Sunday.
Melanie is the first storm of the November-to-April season to form in Australia's 'cyclone alley', which is also home to the world's biggest iron ore deposits and major oil and gas fields. Normally the area sees about five storms each season.
In March, a powerful cyclone forced oil companies, including Woodside Petroleum Ltd and BHP Billiton to shut about 180,000 barrels a day of production, half of Australia's output, for nearly a week.
Production at its 80,000 bpd Stybarrow field, as well as its 10,600 bpd Griffin field, had been suspended since Sunday morning, said BHP's spokeswoman Emma Meade. "We are now waiting for the seas to calm before resuming operations," Meade said.
The company's iron ore mining operations in the Pilbara region were unaffected, she said. Government meteorologists on Sunday cancelled cyclone warnings along the coast as category two tropical cyclone Melanie, packing winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour (94 miles per hour), was moving away from the coast and was expected to remain offshore.
Other operators affected by the cyclone were also set to resume production. A spokesman from US oil major Chevron said on Sunday that operations on Barrow Island would return to full production by Sunday evening after being shut in overnight, while output from its Thevanard Island field would resume by Monday.
The fields have a combined production of about 8,000 barrels per day (bpd). A spokesman for Santos Ltd, which shut its 5,000 bpd Mutineer-Exeter field over the weekend, said production was expected to resume by Monday evening. Woodside Petroleum Ltd, operator of the North West Shelf gas project off the coast of Western Australia, has experienced no impact from the storm, spokeswoman Kirsten Stoney said on Sunday.
Melanie is the first storm of the November-to-April season to form in Australia's 'cyclone alley', which is also home to the world's biggest iron ore deposits and major oil and gas fields. Normally the area sees about five storms each season.
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In March, a powerful cyclone forced oil companies, including Woodside Petroleum Ltd and BHP Billiton to shut about 180,000 barrels a day of production, half of Australia's output, for nearly a week.
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