Australia cyclone shuts additional oil fields, ports re-open
A tropical cyclone travelling along the northwest coast of Australia forced additional oil fields to stop production on Thursday, while two major iron ore terminals re-opened after the cyclone passed their facilities, Reuters reports.
Australian oil and gas producer Woodside shut oil production at its Enfield operations on Thursday, after shutting its Cossack oil output earlier in the week.
Apache Corporation said it had halted production at its Stag oil field off northwest Australia, but that its Varanus field was still operating at core staff levels.
Production has also been suspended at the BHP Billiton-operated Pyrenees floating production, storage and offloading vessel as a result of Tropical Cyclone Bianca, Apache said.
Cyclones are a normal feature of an Australian summer but the national weather bureau has warned of above-average cyclone activity this season, on top of devastating floods that recently hit the coal and grain industries in the northeast.
The waters off Australia's northwest coast are home to some of the country's biggest oil and and gas operations, including the A$20 billion ($16.9 billion) North West Shelf venture, operated by Woodside.
Several other oil and gas companies operating in the region took measures earlier in the week to protect their facilities from the cyclone.
On Wednesday, Chevron Australia halted production at its oil-processing facilities on Barrow and Thevenard Islands and Santos said it had idled its offshore Mutineer-Exeter field, moving its floating production, storage and offloading platform out of the path of the cyclone.
IRON ORE PORTS RE-OPEN
Australia's major iron ore export terminal, Port Hedland, re-opened to all shipping traffic on Thursday after shutting due to a cyclone, harbour master John Finch said.
Tropical Cyclone Bianca is sweeping along the country's northwest coast and has also shut some oil and gas facilities.
Global miner Rio Tinto also said it is resuming normal operations at its Port of Dampier iron ore terminal after the cyclone briefly forced it to restrict port operations, the company said on Thursday.
"Having suspended all coastal operations by yesterday afternoon, we are now checking our operations as part of normal post-event procedures," Rio Tinto said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
"Although heavy rain persists, we expect to be able to progressively return to most normal operations over the next 24 hours."
The Port of Dampier is one of two ports in Western Australia used by Rio Tinto to export around 200 millions tonnes of iron ore each year.
Australian oil and gas producer Woodside shut oil production at its Enfield operations on Thursday, after shutting its Cossack oil output earlier in the week.
Apache Corporation said it had halted production at its Stag oil field off northwest Australia, but that its Varanus field was still operating at core staff levels.
Production has also been suspended at the BHP Billiton-operated Pyrenees floating production, storage and offloading vessel as a result of Tropical Cyclone Bianca, Apache said.
Cyclones are a normal feature of an Australian summer but the national weather bureau has warned of above-average cyclone activity this season, on top of devastating floods that recently hit the coal and grain industries in the northeast.
The waters off Australia's northwest coast are home to some of the country's biggest oil and and gas operations, including the A$20 billion ($16.9 billion) North West Shelf venture, operated by Woodside.
Several other oil and gas companies operating in the region took measures earlier in the week to protect their facilities from the cyclone.
On Wednesday, Chevron Australia halted production at its oil-processing facilities on Barrow and Thevenard Islands and Santos said it had idled its offshore Mutineer-Exeter field, moving its floating production, storage and offloading platform out of the path of the cyclone.
IRON ORE PORTS RE-OPEN
Australia's major iron ore export terminal, Port Hedland, re-opened to all shipping traffic on Thursday after shutting due to a cyclone, harbour master John Finch said.
Tropical Cyclone Bianca is sweeping along the country's northwest coast and has also shut some oil and gas facilities.
Global miner Rio Tinto also said it is resuming normal operations at its Port of Dampier iron ore terminal after the cyclone briefly forced it to restrict port operations, the company said on Thursday.
"Having suspended all coastal operations by yesterday afternoon, we are now checking our operations as part of normal post-event procedures," Rio Tinto said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
"Although heavy rain persists, we expect to be able to progressively return to most normal operations over the next 24 hours."
The Port of Dampier is one of two ports in Western Australia used by Rio Tinto to export around 200 millions tonnes of iron ore each year.