Varanus plant back to full production soon(ish)  

WA News reports the Varanus Island gas plant is expected to be fully operational again in January - Varanus plant back to full production early.

The Varanus Island gas plant will be at full production earlier than scheduled, Apache Energy says.

Managing director Tim Wall told an analysts briefing in the US overnight that by the end of November the plant, which supplies about one-third of WA's domestic gas supplies, would be producing the 350 terajoules of gas a day that it did before the June 3 explosion.

Apache, the controlling partner in the plant, had earlier expected Varanus to be back at full production in December.

The plant itself will be "reinstated" in full by January.

Apache was blamed for the blast by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, which said ineffective anti-corrosion coating on a 30cm pipeline and poor inspection and monitoring all helped cause the explosion.