CVX continues to add to its problems and liability. Joint operating agreement gives operator liability only when Gross negligence and willful misconduct of senior supervisory personnel. CVX continues to layoff qualified LNG personnel and repatriate its most experienced engineers and commissioning personnel in the middle of the highest risk part of the operation...start-up. THis is exactly the opposite of what Shell and ExxonMobil do when they start new LNG facilities. PRopane compressor failure resulted from not having enough qualified expatriates giving oversight. And CVX continues to send home the experts and handover to personnel without any LNG experience. All of CVX MCP failures ( Bigfoot, Alng, Egtl and now Gorgon, next Wheatstone) have occurred during commissioning and startup...And industry recognizes this period as the period of highest risk, especially with an inexperienced Australian workforce...very limited LNG experience. Exxon did exactly the opposite in PNG and Qatar...Same with Shell in Qatar... THis staffing/layoff strategy will likely lead to further commissioning delays, cargo penalties, more costs for Gorgon and Wheatstone and lost revenue and cash generation...Penny wise and pound foolish. The Gorgon staffing strategy is being driven by Senior Supervisory personnel onsite and in HQ, hence, liability will attach. Shell and Exxon are carefully monitoring because they are now liable for penalties for missed cargos. THey will sue eventually...bigger issue is when will CVX recognize their staffing and project execution failure..They are sending home and layoff the only people that can fix the problem. CVX is digging a very deep liability hole and Shell and ExxonMobil know it...because they are on record in the JV votes as disagreeing with original startup timing and raised many questions on the project execution plan. IN light of recent startup and commissioning failures, CVX needs to reassess its commissioning and start up strategy... Current repatriation/ layoff plans will result in loss of expertise right in the middle of the high risk operations. Once they layoff the process and machinery personnel with knowledge of the Gorgon process...only rookie engineers will be running the 54 billion plant. PEnny wise pound foolish and CVX will be liable for 100 % of the costs and lost cargos...not just 47% ...Shell and ExxonMobil are not fools...they know once CVX makes its mistakes it can enforce its liability clauses in forthcoming lawsuits. THere will be plenty of former CVX employees to give direct evidence and testimony in the lawsuits. CVX senior managers created a flawed startup/ commissioning that are not consistent with industry standards...that is Gross Negligence...and senior Management is directing the layoff strategy...that is Willful Misconduct...CVX needs to rethink Gorgon before major lawsuit liability attaches...CVX only has 1 month before key personnel move out of Gorgon and startup placed in the hands of rookies.
5 replies (most recent on top)
OP - careful smoking all that crack, you may get drug tested.
"PRopane compressor failure resulted from not having enough qualified expatriates giving oversight."
Really? Who needs a root cause analysis, the answer is right here on The Layoff! If you knew what you were talking about you'd know virtually no FE expats with a meaningful hand in this sort of work have been sent home yet.
"especially with an inexperienced Australian workforce...very limited LNG experience. "
Beleive me when I say that there is far, far more local LNG talent in this corner of the world (and indeed working on the project) than there is in the global CVX workforce (there are obviously a couple of bright sparks out there but not in serious numbers). Not to mention the expat talent on the project that has come from outside CVX (i.e. direct hires or contractors from Europe and North America).
You make a couple of good points but your main ones above are terribly ill informed. In the happy, professional spirit of the Layoff, it would be remiss of me not to sign off with a petty insult. You d*ckhead.
Bigfoot is an absolute blunder. We've got a rig and production facility rusting in a shipyard. Because the thing has already been built and they are forcing and fudging the numbers to get approval on FID from the DRB. Expect at least 40% overruns on days and costs since that was what was chopped off from the original plan. It's already a giant rust bucket. Either way the wellhead and riser system is still being developed because we jumped in and built all this crap without actually knowing how we'd put the pieces together.
Bigfoot didn't even get to commissioning. The problem came during construction.
FGP is headed in the same direction and it has not even reached FID.
Chevron's Nigel Hearne called it teething pains. With the layoffs the market reacted and gave Chevron stock a bump.