Contractor Expro Group Australia won a five-year contract to provide light well intervention services for the Gorgon complex in 2020.

However, difficulties with its own vessel meant the company was forced to hire a third party vessel to complete work this year.

The vessel, described as "snakebit," in a recent JP Morgan note, suffered a catastrophic incident when the crane wire failed.

The subsea module, associated umbilical lines, and severed crane wire sank to the seabed.

Miraculously, no personnel were injured.

In a corporate update, Expro said it had conducted a ROV survey which confirmed the equipment "has come to rest at a safe location on the seabed."

It is just the first of many issues on the vessel since the first quarter of 2022.

Energy News understands the costs to Expro since then have grown to as much as a US$34 million drag on earnings in the Asia Pacific region.

Expro will provide additional colour during its third quarter report.

Chevron only recently achieved first gas from its Gorgon Phase 2 drilling project.

The project included 11 additional wells across the Gorgon and Jansz-Lo fields maintain future gas supply to its existing three LNG trains and processing facilities on Barrow Island.

However, ramping up production has been stifled by the problems with Expro's vessel.

It is unclear to what extent lost production has amounted to, however the vessel has been onsite for over a year.

A Chevron spokesperson did not respond to questions on Friday or Monday.

The Expro light well intervention vessel was contracted to other operators on the North West Shelf, which would mean these work programs will also be impacted.