One of two processing units, known as trains, that supply LNG has restarted, Exxon said in a statement Friday. The second train will start as production is increased over time and exports “are expected to resume soon” said the company, which owns 33% of the PNG LNG project and operates it.
“Resuming LNG production ahead of our projected eight-week timeframe is a significant achievement for Exxon Mobil, our joint venture partners and our customers,” Neil Duffin, president of ExxonMobil Production Co, said in the statement.
The LNG plant, which accounts for about 3% of global production, lies roughly 600km (370 miles) from the epicentre of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, which struck on February 26. The project exported about 7.8mn tonnes of the fuel last year to buyers across Asia, including Japan, China and Taiwan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The shutdown of the liquefaction and export facility, which wasn’t damaged by the quake, followed the closure of a gas processing plant and well pads at the Hides field in Hela Province, near where the earthquake struck. Exxon said on Friday that it used the outage to complete maintenance originally scheduled for later this year.
The facility is known within the industry for its reliability, producing more than its nameplate annual capacity of 6.9mn tonnes during the past two years. Before the shutdown, it had been expected to ship as much as 8.5mn tonnes in 2018, Oil Search Ltd, the second-largest owner of the facility, said in February.
Oil Search has a 29% stake, while Australia’s Santos Ltd holds 13.5%.