West Australian Oil, Iron Ore Operations Restart After Storm

By Jesse Riseborough

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Santos Ltd., Australia’s third- biggest oil and gas producer, resumed output at its Mutineer- Exeter oil field off the nation’s northwest coast after the storm threat that closed the operation last week eased.

Output from the field was halted for three days and resumed late last night, Matthew Doman, a spokesman at Adelaide-based Santos, said today by telephone.

A tropical low weather system formed off the northwest coast last week, closing rigs, dumping rain on mines, forcing an iron ore port to close and disrupting rail services. Australia’s northwest, where most of the nation’s oil and gas is pumped, may have more cyclones than average this season, according to a forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology.

A new tropical low has formed off the northwest coast of Western Australia and is expected to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next 12 to 18 hours, the bureau said today in a warning on its Web site.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., the country’s second-largest oil and gas producer and operator of the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas venture, hasn’t lost any output, Roger Martin, a Perth-based spokesman, said today by phone. Staff evacuated from three rigs in the area during the weekend will return today.

Apache Corp. last week halted production at its Stag and Legendre platforms and removed non-essential staff from its Varanus Island gas facility. Perth-based Apache spokesman David Parker wasn’t immediately able to comment on whether operations had resumed.

BHP, Rio, Fortescue

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s operations in the region were unaffected, Peter Ogden, a Melbourne-based spokesman for the world’s biggest mining company, said today by phone.

All Rio Tinto Group iron ore mines are working and all rail services, except for the Mesa J line, are returning to normal, Gervase Greene, a Perth-based spokesman for the world’s second- largest iron ore exporter, said today in an e-mailed statement.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., Australia’s third-largest iron ore miner, is loading ships with ore though mining at its Cloud Break operations were suspended yesterday because of water in the mine’s pit, spokesman Cameron Morse said.

Port Hedland, used by BHP and Fortescue to ship iron ore out of the Pilbara, and nearby Port Dampier reopened yesterday after being closed a day earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Melbourne at jriseborough@bloomberg.net;