(Reuters) – U.S. oil giant Chevron’s Australian unit said on Tuesday it would supply a total of 130 petajoules of gas to aluminium producer Alcoa over a 10-year period starting 2028.
The gas will be supplied from Chevron’s 530 terajoules-a-day Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities, and North West Shelf Venture in the state of Western Australia, Chevron Australia said in a statement.
Separately, Alcoa said the gas would be used to power its alumina refineries in Western Australia.
Alcoa had previously secured gas supply deals with Chevron, Warrego Energy and Exxon Mobil in 2020 to power its Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup alumina refineries in the state from 2024 onwards.
However, the aluminium company said in January that it would stop production at the Kwinana refinery, citing challenging market conditions and the facility’s age.
A spokesperson from Alcoa said an unexpected gas disruption and subsequent power outage at its Pinjarra Alumina Refinery on Tuesday had impacted process flow.
“Alcoa continues to restore refining operations at the site and the cause of the disruption is being investigated,” the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)