Western Australia not out of the woods with gas crisis

Western Australians will have to minimise energy consumption for at least 24 hours as they wait for gas from the North West Shelf to reach power stations.

Gas supplies have been dramatically reduced because of an electrical fault on Wednesday that caused the shutdown of Woodside Petroleum Ltd’s Karratha plant.


Western Power spokeswoman Miriam Borthwick said it would take at least 24 hours for the gas to reach power stations after being fed into WA’s main pipeline.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Ltd’s WA director Richard Ellis agreed, saying it would take time to get pressure back up to required levels.

Western Power on Wednesday said 20 per cent of the state’s power generators would be affected by the shutdown of the plant, the destination for gas produced from the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Joint Venture, which supplies about 65 per cent of the state’s gas demand from six fields.

The Age