* Gorgon shut down earlier in April due to cooling problems
* Gorgon exported its 1st cargo in March
* Chevron (NYSE:CVX) says development of Trains 2 and 3 unaffected (Adds detail, LNG prices, chart, bullet points)
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, April 6 (Reuters) - Australia's Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is expected to resume production within 30 to 60 days after the facility halted output due to mechanical problems, operator Chevron CVX.N said on Wednesday.
Chevron's $54-billion project began producing LNG for export on March 7, but has since had trouble with a cooling unit, preventing the plant from turning natural gas into a superchilled liquid to be shipped on tankers. restart of the plant within 30-60 days is estimated at this time," the company said in a statement.
"Train 1 ramp-up to full capacity is still expected to occur over 6 to 8 months from initial start-up (in March) of the facility. Meanwhile, construction activities continue to progress on LNG Trains 2 and 3 with timing not affected by the work on Train 1," the company said.
The Gorgon Project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3 percent), ExxonMobil XOM.N (25 percent), Shell RDSa.L (25 percent), Osaka Gas 9532.T (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas 9531.T (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power 9502.T (0.417 percent).
Gorgon will have the capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes of LNG per year once all three production trains are operating. said the outage might temporarily support Asian spot LNG prices LNG-AS , which have dropped by 80 percent from peaks hit in 2014 as soaring supplies clash with slowing demand from the world's top buyers Japan, South Korea and China.
Gorgon was initially expected to cost $37 billion and start exports in 2014, but delays and soaring costs pushed the start-date back and the price tag up.
Gorgon's first cargo, which was shipped in March, is expected to be delivered to Japanese utility Chubu Electric this month, sources said.
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http://tmsnrt.rs/1oAAa5K FACTBOX-Australia's LNG industry