The exports of Australia's flagship North West Shelf (NWS) condensate will drop to three cargoes in September, down from four usually, due to a maintenance, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore Co will market one cargo loading during September 1-5, while oil major BP <BP.L> will market two joint-venture cargoes loading on Sept. 11-15 and Sept. 23-27, the sources said.
Pipeline cleaning during the planned maintenance could introduce some contaminants that could increase the crude's mercury content, they said.
Woodside Petroleum <WPL.AX> said in March it would defer major maintenance at the NWS liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Western Australia as it was slashing spending for 2020 in half to cope with the coronavirus crisis and a slump in oil prices.
A major turnaround on Train 3 at the LNG plant at Karratha has been deferred to September 2020 from late-April, while a major turnaround for LNG Train 4 has been deferred by a year to August 2021, the company said at the time.
Woodside declined to comment on the condensate cargoes as its loading schedule is commercial in confidence.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang and Florence Tan; additional Reporting By Sonali Paul in Melbourne, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
