Unit at Chevron-operated Wheatstone offshore platform shut temporarily

Chevron Corp has temporarily shut a unit that separates natural gas and associated liquids at its Wheatstone offshore processing platform after finding an issue during routine maintenance, a company spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.

He said an "anomaly" within a nozzle on an inlet separator vessel was found during routine maintenance inspections at the Chevron-operated platform.

"The unit, which separates gas and liquids, has been shut down as a precaution while additional assessments are undertaken," the spokesman said. The company did not provide a timeline on when the unit would be back up.

Chevron said all processing trains at the Wheatstone onshore natural gas facility remain operational and the company continues to deliver to its customers in Western Australia and the region.

The Wheatstone project's offshore processing platform is located in 70 metres of water, about 225 km (140 miles) from the Pilbara coast.

The offshore facilities gather and partially process gas and associated condensate from the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar and Brunello gas fields, and deliver it onshore via trunkline for further processing, according to Chevron's website.

Once onshore at Ashburton North, the majority of Wheatstone’s gas is processed by the two LNG trains, where impurities and inert gases are removed and the natural gas is chilled before being exported through LNG tankers.