APACHE Energy says it can not guarantee its gas plant on Varanus Island, Western Australia will return to full capacity before the end of December.
A spokesman for the company could not confirm a date for when all the repairs would be completed and the gas supplies would return to the levels they were at before the 3 June explosion.
The plant returned to two-thirds production ahead of schedule back in August, prompting the oil and gas giant to declare it would resume full levels by the end of year
The spokesman says the company may still yet reach this target, but did not offer any reason for any potential delays.
The incident cut the state’s gas supply by a third and drained about $2.4b from the economy, according to the West Australian Chamber of Commerce. Around 60% of WA’s electricity is produced from the burning of gas. Apache did not comment on whether any of its customers are still affected by shortages.
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority’s (NOPSA) report claims the blast was caused by the company's failure to inspect and protect the gas pipeline from corrosion. Apache responded by labelling the report as “incomplete” and “premature.”
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