SINGAPORE, June 11 (Reuters) - Australia's WoodsidePetroleum has extended a planned maintenance at itsPluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant after technical problemswhen restarting production.
"The Pluto LNG turnaround was completed as planned but themixed refrigerant compressor has experienced vibration onrestart," the company said in a filing to the Australian stockexchange ASX on Tuesday.
As a result, it has begun further activities that willextend the turnaround, with the aim of restarting production atthe end of June.
The oil and gas producer said that it has made arrangementsto meet obligations to its customers, including the purchase ofthird-party cargoes.
Due to the extension of the maintenance, the company expectsits production this year to be at the lower end of the 88 to 94million barrels of oil equivalent guidance range, it said.
The production curb comes as Royal Dutch Shell onTuesday shipped its first cargo from the Prelude floating LNGplant off northwest Australia.
With Asian LNG spot prices at a three-year low, theextension of Pluto LNG maintenance is unlikely to have a bigimpact, industry sources said.(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru and JessicaJaganathan in SINGAPORE, editing by Richard Pullin)