Stag platform offshore Australia hit by Cyclone Narelle

Jadestone Energy reported that last week’s Cyclone Narelle offshore northwestern Australia caused damage to its Stag platform and associated loading facilities.

Ahead of the storm’s predicted approach, the company had shut down operations on March 23 and demobilized the platform.

Narelle then developed into a Category 5 storm with sustained wind speeds above 200 km/hour.

Jadestone’s team was able to return to the field on March 28 to assess the impact.

Stag’s export lines had been cleared of hydrocarbons prior to the shut-in, the company said, and there was no escape of hydrocarbons to the environment. It has notified NOPSEMA, the Australian offshore upstream regulator.

At present, Jadestone is assessing the extent of the damage and the likely repairs to resume production.

Ahead of the shutdown, the field had been producing about 2,000 bbl/d of oil.

Stag’s fixed leg, 12-slot manned central processing facility platform has an overall liquids production capacity of 50,000 bbl/d, with crude oil offloaded to shuttle tankers via a subsea 8-inch export pipeline and a pipeline end manifold/catenary anchor leg mooring buoy arrangement.