US-based energy giant Chevron expects to produce first liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the third liquefaction train of its giant Gorgon facility in Western Australia by the end of this month.
“Train 3 construction and commissioning has gone smoothly and we are expecting first LNG before the end of this month, ahead of our previously announced schedule,” Jay Johnson , Chevron’s executive vice-president upstream told analysts on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Chevron’s Chief Executive John Watson said the company was expecting to start LNG production from the third train at the Barrow Island LNG plant early in the second quarter of this year.
The troubled $54 billion Gorgon LNG project has experienced several production interruptions since it shipped its first cargo on March 21.
The LNG facility faced five production interruptions in March, July, two in November and the latest one at the end of February.
Chevron restarted production at the second Gorgon liquefaction train on February 26 after it had been suspended due to “minor maintenance.”
Johnson told analysts that the second Gorgon train reached over 90 percent of its nameplate capacity within a week following the restart.
According to Johnson, Trains 1 and 2 are producing about 230,000 oil equivalent barrels a day of LNG and domestic gas.
He added that 22 LNG cargoes have been shipped from Gorgon since the beginning of this year.
The LNG project will have a shipment capacity of 15.6 million mt/year once all three trains have ramped up to full production.
Gorgon is operated by Chevron that owns a 47.3 percent stake, while other shareholders are ExxonMobil (25 percent), Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 percent).
LNG World News Staff