When are the governments in this country going to mandate Australian manufacturing and jobs for these big resources projects???
Do they wait until we get another Varanus Island disaster?
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WA order may shut down Gorgon LNG
5-6 minutes
Aug 7, 2020 – 7.08pm
The Western Australian government has ordered an urgent inspection of critical equipment on trains one and three of Chevron's $US54 billion ($74.4 billion) Gorgon LNG plant amid worries that the safety of workers is at risk.
The order raises the possibility that the huge plant may have to be closed altogether to carry out the inspections of the propane heat exchangers on the two trains by a deadline of August 21 to see if
the same cracks that are requiring repairs to train two are also present there.
Chevron's Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island off Western Australia may have to be totally shut down for repairs. Supplied.
The order from the Dangerous Goods Directorate of WA's Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety comes as train two is already closed for maintenance and extended repairs. The whole plant on Barrow Island has capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes a year of LNG, second only in size to the North West Shelf venture.
A Chevron spokesman confirmed the company had received improvement and remediation notices on the three trains at Gorgon and was working closely with regulators on remediation work.
"We are working closely with the regulator in planning and implementing repair work at Gorgon that was identified by Chevron in a safe and efficient manner," a spokesman said.
"The appropriate safety measures are in place and we remain committed to operating safely and reliably."
Implications for repair process
Chevron's
head of upstream Jay Johnson signalled to US investors last week that the defective welds requiring repairs on train two could also be a problem at the other two production lines.
Sources close to the situation signalled it wasn't yet clear what the implications would be for the potential repair process at the other two trains
"The Dangerous Goods Directorate issued the notice as the nature of the reported cracking in train two is such that there may be similar defects in trains one and three," said Steve Emery, director of dangerous goods and petroleum safety at DMIRS.
"DMIRS continues to take the matter seriously and is in close contact with Chevron."
Trade unions have argued that the cracks in welding carried out during the manufacturing process in South Korea are so deep that the propane heat exchangers or "kettles" would need to be replaced.
August deadline
However Mr Johnson said last week the repairs could be done on site and said that train two should restart production in early September. He said then he didn't expect Chevron to miss LNG delivery dates due to the disruption to production.
Mr Emery noted that short-term measures taken by Chevron to mitigate the consequences of any potential gas leaks in trains one and three "appear sufficient until the welds are inspected".
Meanwhile, DMIRS's WorkSafe unit has set an August 28 deadline for Chevron to repair the eight propane kettles on train two so that they comply with standards for the "high-hazard" equipment.
On Thursday, a further 24 WorkSafe improvement notices were issued for the plant registration, weld repairs and requirements to inspect and repair the kettles on train three, said WorkSafe Director Sally North.
"These notices must be complied with by 24 September, and WorkSafe’s investigation is continuing," Ms North added.
The problems at Gorgon are just the latest to impact the plant, which had a long and troubled construction period and slow start-up but had been running more smoothly in recent months.
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