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Ocean Legendre shut in as Daryl nears



By Upstream staff 

Australia's Woodside Petroleum has suspended operations at the Ocean Legendre oilfield off Western Australia as a precaution against approaching Cyclone Daryl.

The Karratha Spirit drillship has been disconnected from the 9000 barrels per day Ocean Legendre platform and moved to safe waters, while non-essential staff have been evacuated from a range of facilities.

Woodside and fellow Australian player Santos, who also operates fields in the area, are monitoring the path of the category two storm before making any decision to suspend lifting at any other oil or gas field in the region.

Tropical Cyclone Daryl is packing winds of up to 155 kilometres per hour and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology told Reuters the storm could strengthen as it moves down the West Australian coast in the coming hours. The cyclone is expected to skirt the state's offshore oil patch.

Daryl has so far proved weaker than last week's category three Cyclone Clare, which saw both companies evacuate staff from facilities and move mobile rigs out of its path before it slammed into Karratha and Dampier, the hubs for the region's offshore industry.

Santos was able to resume production at its 100,000 bpd Mutineer-Exeter field last Friday but Woodside is still resolving technical problems at its 90,000 bpd Cossack Pioneer field ahead of a re-start, causing delivery delays.

Santos said production will continue at Mutineer-Exeter unless the weather deteriorates sharply.

Elsewhere BHP Billiton's 10,600 bpd Griffin oil field remains shut in, with the company unsure when weather conditions would permit reconnection of a mobile rig.


Friday, 20 January, 2006, 07:54 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 20 January, 2006, 07:54 GMT

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