Chevron Australia signss long-term gas supply agreement with Alcoa

The Australian unit of U.S. oil company Chevron said Tuesday that it will supply 130 petajoules (petajoules) of gas over a period of 10 years, starting in 2028, to the aluminium manufacturer Alcoa.

Chevron Australia announced in a press release that the gas would be supplied by its 530 terajoules per day Gorgon and Wheatstone plants, and North West Shelf Venture, located in Western Australia.

Alcoa, on the other hand, said that it would use this gas to power its refineries for alumina in Western Australia.

Alcoa signed gas supply agreements with Chevron in 2020, Warrego Energy in 2021, and Exxon Mobil by 2024 to power the alumina refineries of Kwinana Pinjarra, and Wagerup in the state.

The aluminium company announced in January, however, that it would cease production at its Kwinana refinery due to the challenging market conditions as well as the age of the facility.

A spokesperson for Alcoa stated that an unexpected gas interruption and subsequent power failure at Pinjarra Alumina Refinery Tuesday affected process flow.

The spokesperson stated that "Alcoa is continuing to restore refinery operations at the site, and the cause of disruption is being investigated."

(source: Reuters)