The category three storm, which lashed the coast with 195kph winds, forced the shutdown of about 200,000 barrels of oil production, Bloomberg reported.
BHP Billiton, Santos, Woodside Petroleum and Chevron Australia all shut down offshore oil rigs in preparation for the storm, while ports at Dampier and Port Headland were closed.
The Woodside-operated North West Shelf is expected to resume oil production at the Cossack Pioneer production system today. In addition, the Ocean Legend vessel will likely reconnect to the Legendre field today, with production to resume not long after. LNG loadings resumed yesterday, following a shutdown that caused a two-day delay to one tanker loading, the news service said.
The NWS venture’s production of LNG, liquified petroleum gas and condensates also resumed full production yesterday, after running at slightly reduced rates during the storm.
A Woodside spokesperson told EnergyReview.net that reports saying the Karratha LNG plant had been shut down during the storm were incorrect.
The spokesperson said the plant was designed to operate in severe weather, including cyclones, and it had successfully met this requirement.
Other industry giants are also reporting resuming production.
The production vessel from BHP Billiton's offshore Griffin oil field, which was moved out of Clare’s path, is now scheduled for reconnection on Sunday, following an inspection of the ship and wellhead connection piping.
Meanwhile, Santos said production at its Mutineer Exeter offshore project was expected to restart today, after the floating production vessel returned and was reconnected earlier in the week. Before the shutdown, Mutineer Exeter was producing about 70,000 barrels of oil.
Chevron said production had restarted at its Barrow Island project, with full production expected by the end of the week. The project was producing about 8,000 barrels of oil per day.
In addition, the Woollybutt oil field, which produces about 22,000 barrels a day, started full-production yesterday, partner Tap Oil said.
