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= UPDATE: Australian Iron Ore, Oil Shut As Cyclone Nears(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)(adds company comments, background) By Stephen Bell Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES PERTH, Mar 29, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --Australia's three major iron ore ports, along with several oil and gas operations, were shut down Wednesday as exporters batten down the hatches ahead of severe tropical cyclone Glenda. Rio Tinto Plc. (RTP) and BHP Billiton (BHP), the nation's two biggest iron ore exporters, closed their respective Pilbara region port facilities Wednesday morning as Glenda approached the northwest coast of Western Australia. The move will temporarily disrupt the flow of iron ore in a market that is already extremely tight because of growing Chinese demand and supply bottlenecks. Rio Tinto tied down facilities at its Dampier and Cape Lambert ports earlier Wednesday, a spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires. "Ships have been sent out to sea - they did the last dumping this morning and we're waiting to see how the weather reports go to see whether we go to full standby mode," she said. Rio Tinto has already declared force majeure on its Pilbara iron ore exports after the effects of three earlier cyclones and heavy rain hit production. The Anglo-Australian miner is the largest iron ore producer in the Pilbara, and alongside BHP and Brazil's CVRD (RIO), is seeking a 15% to 20% price hike in talks with Asian steel mills for the Japan fiscal year starting April 1. Beijing was incensed by last year's 71.5% price surge and has been extremely vocal in recent weeks seeking to curtail another round of increases from its steel mills. The three companies account for account for a combined 70% of global iron ore export sales. Melbourne-based BHP said that its Port Hedland export operations were shut down earlier Wednesday due to the approach of Glenda, which is rated as a "severe" by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. At 0300 GMT, Glenda was 315 kilometers north of Port Hedland and is expected to approach the coast later Wednesday with gusts increasing to 125 kilometers per hour overnight. "Residents of the central and west Pilbara coast are warned of the risk of very destructive winds with gusts exceeding 250 kilometers per hour during Thursday close to the center as this very dangerous cyclone nears the coast," the bureau said. Woodside Shuts Down Some Oil Fields Oil and gas operations are also preparing for the onslaught, with North West Shelf operator Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL.AU) stopping oil production at the Legendre and Cossack-Pioneer fields. Vessels collecting oil at both projects were "unhooked and have ailed off to safer waters", a Woodside spokesman said. However, the spokesman said that the North Rankin and Goodwyn gas platforms - both part of the North West Shelf venture - are still operating. The venture's liquefied natural gas plant at Karratha is still running, he said, although no LNG ships will be loaded for the duration of the cyclone. The North West Shelf is Australia's largest resource project, accounting for more than 40% of Australia's oil and gas production. It is a major exporter of LNG to Japan and South Korea, with exports to China due to begin later this year. BHP also said the offshore Griffin oil and gas project has been disconnected from its riser in preparation for the cyclone. Production at Griffin had already been halted Monday due to another cyclone Floyd. "Because of the development of cyclone Glenda they weren't able to sail back and connect to the riser," a BHP spokeswoman said. Griffin, which is part-owned by ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), produces about 10,600 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Elsewhere, Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) said that it shut down production at its 50,000 barrels-per-day Mutineer-Exeter oil field. "We sailed the (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel away overnight in line with our safety procedures," a spokeswoman said. -By Stephen Bell, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9245-6408; [email protected] -Edited by Ian Pemberton (END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-29-06 0051ET |