Cyclone veers away from Australia's northwest coast

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tropical cyclone Melanie, a category two storm with winds of up to 155 kph (96 mph), has veered away from Australia's remote northwest coast and was not expected to make a land crossing, meteorologists said on Sunday.

Melanie, which was speeding towards the coast a day ago, has changed tracks to move on a southwesterly direction, parallel to the Pilbara coast, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its Web site (www.bom.gov.au).

The bureau said a cyclone warning continues for coastal areas from Coral Bay to Mardie, but a warning between Karratha and Mardie has been cancelled.

Karratha is home to some of Australia's largest oil and gas fields, operated by Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Santos Ltd.

"Significant rainfall accumulation is unlikely unless the cyclone takes a more southerly track," the bureau said.

Melanie is the first storm of the November-to-April season to form in Australia's 'cyclone alley', which is also home to the world's biggest iron ore deposits and major oil and gas fields. Normally the area sees about five storms each season.

A spokesman from U.S. oil major Chevron said on Saturday that operations on its Barrow and Thevanard Islands oil fields have been shut in.

The fields, located off the coast between Coral Bay and Mardie, have a combined production of 8,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Tropical cyclone Melanie was estimated to be 430 kilometers north of Exmouth and 385 kilometers northwest of oil producing region Karratha, the forecaster said. The cyclone was moving west southwest at about 19 kilometers per hour parallel to the coast.

In March, a powerful cyclone forced oil companies, including Santos and BHP Billiton to shut about 180,000 barrels a day of production, half of Australia's output, for nearly a week.

(Reporting by Fayen Wong )