U.S. oil major Chevron Corp is operating its Wheatstone LNG plant in Western Australia at below capacity as it repairs an inlet separator, a senior company executive said.
"At Wheatstone, production is modestly below capacity while we repair an inlet separator," Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber said during an earnings conference call on Friday.
"We do not expect production impacts in the second quarter."
For the rest of the year, the plant is expected to be back up to full capacity until planned maintenance due to start late in the third quarter and continue through the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said in the same call.
Chevron had temporarily shut a unit that separates natural gas and associated liquids at its Wheatstone offshore processing platform late last year after finding an issue during routine maintenance.
Meanwhile, repairs on production Train 1 at Chevron's Gorgon LNG plant in Western Australia is nearing completion, with the prodction unit expected to be back online in March, Breber said.
"After Train 1 is back online, Train 3 will be taken out of service for the propane vessel inspections, any repairs and the planned turnaround," he added.
Maintenance at Train 3 is expected in the second quarter, Wirth said.
Chevron agreed with regulators last August to progressively shut down Trains 1 and 3 at Australia's second-largest LNG plant for inspections after cracks were found in the propane kettles in Train 2.
(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
