Tropical Cyclone Hubert was upgraded to a category two storm overnight and is bearing down on the western Pilbara coast
It has once again forced industry giants BHP Billiton, Santos and Woodside to halt activities in the region.
For the second time in a week, BHPB has moved its Griffin oil and gas production facility as a precaution. The company has not been able to reconnect the facility since category five Cyclone Glenda disrupted operations last week.
Santos told AAP it was preparing to move its Mutineer-Exeter production facility out of Hubert’s projected path.
In addition, Woodside said its Cossack Pioneer and Ocean Legend production facilities had been shut down, following a brief reconnection yesterday, and the Karratha Spirit rig sailed away.
Woodside’s production forecasts are based on the assumption that each year three cyclones will interrupt output. However, another big player, Apache Energy, told the Australian it only allowed for one or two cyclones per year.
News of the latest cyclone has also forced Tap Oil to suspend drilling at two of its Carnarvon-based wells for the second time since drilling began.
The BHPB-operated Jacala-1A well in WA-351-P and the Harriet Joint Venture’s Zephyrus-1 well have been secured and personnel evacuated, in response to the new storm.
Both wells were shut down and then restarted in the past week, after the region was threatened by cyclones Floyd and Glenda.
Spudded on April 4, the high-reward, high-risk Jacala-1A well, which is now 10 days behind schedule due to the cyclone activity, has been drilled and cased to a depth of 1140m in 1060m of water.
BHPB has a 55% interest, while Tap owns 25% and Roc Oil holds the remaining 20%.
Meanwhile, the Harriet Joint Venture’s Zephyrus-1 well, which spudded on March 21, has been drilled and cased to a depth of 1318m. Tap started evacuating personnel from the Agincourt platform yesterday, where Zephyrus-1 is being drilled as a deviated well.
The HJV comprises Apache Northwest (68.5%), Kufpec Australia (19.2%) and Tap (12.2%).
Tap has also warned that Hubert could delay the resumption of output from the Woollybutt field, after operations were suspended and the floating production, storage and offloading vessel disconnected more than a week ago in preparation for Cyclone Glenda.
