Oil Rigs Close Near Australia as Cyclone Intensifies (Update1)
Posted by
JAC on 12/15/2009, 5:46 am
By Jason Scott
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Cyclone Laurence, Australia's first storm of the season, is intensifying as it moves closer to the northwestern coast, triggering evacuations of offshore oil and gas rigs.
The storm, now off Western Australia's Kimberley region, was upgraded to a category three on a scale of one to five and at 8 a.m. local time today was 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of the town of Kalumburu, moving southwest at 8 kilometers an hour, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its Web site.
Winds with gusts as high as 165 kilometers per hour are being experienced in the Kimberley area and winds with gusts to 130 kph are expected later today further southwest, along with heavy rain, the bureau said.
Karoon Gas Australia Ltd., ConocoPhillips' partner in an exploration venture off the northwest coast, suspended drilling operations at its Transocean Legend drilling rig due to poor weather conditions caused by the cyclone, it said in a statement today.
Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production Pcl said yesterday it evacuated workers from the Jabiru and Challis fields and shut production.
Northwestern Australia, which accounts for 73 percent of the nation's natural gas exports and 64 percent of crude oil shipments, may experience six cyclones this season, which runs from November until April, according to an October forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Halting Production
BHP Billiton Ltd., Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Santos Ltd., Australia's three biggest oil and gas producers, were among companies that halted production at offshore oil fields last season because of cyclones.
Woodside spokesman Roger Martin said today he wasn't aware of the company's projects being affected by the cyclone.
Cyclone George in March 2007 caused flooding at Energy Resources of Australia Ltd.'s Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory. That storm killed two workers and injured 16 others at Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.'s iron-ore operation in Western Australia.
Cyclone Tracy, one of the worst natural disasters in Australia's history, killed 71 people on Christmas Day, 1974, according to the government's Emergency Management Authority. The storm forced 35,362 of a population of 47,000 to flee, the nation's biggest peacetime evacuation.
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