Australia's Wheatstone LNG project has resumed production, with Train 1 having reached full production by June 19, and Train 2 likely to reach full output by June 21, sources familiar with the matter told S&P Global Commodity Insights June 20.
"Restart activities at the Wheatstone Gas Facility are ongoing," a Chevron Australia spokesperson said, declining to elaborate.
The news of restarts at Wheatstone LNG's two LNG trains emerged after Chevron Australia said June 13 that it had begun repair works on the Wheatstone Platform, expected to be completed in weeks, and that LNG output would resume following repairs.
Chevron Australia shut its Wheatstone Platform June 10, which resulted in the suspension of the offshore platform that provides gas to Wheatstone's onshore facilities near Onslow, Western Australia.
The Wheatstone LNG outage came as Japan is about to enter its summer power demand season. Japanese LNG lifting volumes account for more than 80% of the Wheatstone project in Australia, which has a nameplate capacity of 8.9 million mt/year of LNG and a domestic gas plant.
The Wheatstone LNG outage had earlier been among factors supporting the strength of Asian spot LNG prices following the outage, but market concerns have eased in recent days with emerging restart outlooks.
Asia's spot LNG market has shifted its focus to the region's upcoming summer demand season, which is supporting market sentiment, according to market sources.
Platts, part of Commodity Insights, assessed the August JKM at $12.625/MMBtu on June 19, up 11.6 cents/MMBtu on the day, amid expectations of greater demand in the summer.
