Australia Weather News

Four of Australia's largest gas projects have suffered outages and ports in the Pilbara have suspended operations after severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle swept through the region.

Energy giants Santos, Chevron, and Woodside all confirmed impacts to critical infrastructure, although the duration of the disruption remains to be seen and the cyclone has now been downgraded to a tropical low.

Their operations account collectively for almost two-thirds of WA's domestic gas supply over the past three months, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Port operations disrupted

Meanwhile, Pilbara Ports says there has been significant asset damage in its general cargo precinct in Dampier.

All general cargo import operations have been suspended.

Chief executive Samuel McSkimming said mining supplies, containerised freight and chemicals had all been affected.

But he said fuel imports had not been impacted, nor had iron ore and LNG exports.

He said while it was not uncommon for facilities to be damaged after a cyclone, the degree of the impact was "unusual".

"We are expecting a substantial impact on operations," he said.

It was not known when operations would resume.

The Port of Ashburton, near Onslow — home to iron ore and liquefied natural gas exports — will remain closed until it is safe for teams to inspect.

Cape Preston West and Varanus Island ports are also closed.

Gas supply issues 'bad timing'

The state government said it was working to ensure a consistent domestic gas supply.

It comes as countries around the globe brace for a shortage of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while the conflict in the Middle East drags on.

"It's certainly bad timing from that point of view," said independent gas analyst Jeanette Roberts.

"When you look at the cost of living and fuel prices, the impact of the triple whammy could be really quite significant."

Facilities still offline

Before it was downgraded to a tropical low early this morning, ex-tropical Cyclone Narelle carved a path through much of Australia's most productive energy infrastructure, intensifying to category four strength on Thursday.

Gale-force winds lashed islands off WA's Pilbara, with gusts peaking at around 159 kilometres per hour on Barrow Island — home to Chevron's flagship Gorgon gas facilities.

The company said it was still working to restore production there and at its Wheatstone project, which had an offshore platform knocked offline around midday.

"As the platform supplies feed gas to Wheatstone's onshore facilities near Onslow, LNG and domestic gas production has been suspended," a Chevron spokesperson said.

One of three LNG production trains at Chevron's Gorgon gas facility also experienced an outage around 3pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Woodside suffered a "production interruption" at its Karratha Gas Plant.

The plant is responsible for processing gas from the company's enormous North West Shelf project.

"Production at the North West Shelf Project is expected to recommence after Woodside is able to mobilise its workforce to its offshore facilities," the company said.

Santos operates a gas facility of its own at Varanus Island, 75 kilometres off the Pilbara coast.

The island bore the brunt of winds reaching 180 kilometres per hour early Thursday evening, causing the plant to trip.

"Once weather conditions have abated and personnel can safely re-enter the plant, we'll return to normal operations," a spokesperson said.

'No need to panic'

Energy and climate journalist Peter Milne described the situation as "a big deal" but cautioned against panic.

"It's going to take some time for the weather to calm down so the workers can get out there, fly offshore to the platforms, inspect them, make sure everything's okay, and fire them up again," he said.

"The unknown is how long that will take."

Mr Milne said there would still be reserves in the Dampier-Bunbury gas pipeline as well as in underground storage.

"Gas is a pretty important fuel for our power mix in the Southwest, and that definitely will not be touched — the government will make sure of that."

Industry likely to be impacted first

Ms Roberts said the flow of LNG to WA had been interrupted before and its repercussions had been widespread.

In 2008, an explosion on Varanus Island, then owned by Apache Energy, shut down almost a third of the state's domestic supply for two months.

"That was a major issue and major damage," she said.

"There was obviously impact on users in the Pilbara, people like BHP and Rio and Burrup fertilisers

"But also 150 small businesses reported impacts as well."

The ABC approached multiple gas-generated power plants in WA's south for comment.

RATCH Australia, which operates the gas-fired Kemerton power station near Bunbury, said it was not anticipating any material disruptions but was "monitoring the situation carefully".

Domestic supply 'consistent'

WA Energy Minister Amber Jade Sanderson said she was not aware of the damage when asked at a press conference yesterday.

"[The plants] operate in a cyclone region, they are well prepared, and there's no disruption to domestic gas supply," she said.

However, a state government spokesperson later acknowledged the disruption.

"Woodside, Santos, and Chevron have advised their offshore workforces have been successfully demobilised amid Cyclone Narelle," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"The state government continues to work with each company to ensure domestic customers are receiving a consistent supply of gas."

The outages coincide with global energy insecurity caused by the war in the Middle East.

Qatar, one of the world's largest gas exporters, was forced to suspend shipments after Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, while one of its major gas production plants came under missile fire.