Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) said it has suspended production at oil fields off the Western Australian coast after gale force winds on Saturday showed signs of developing into a cyclone.

Woodside has halted production at Vincent and Enfield oil fields off the coast of Exmouth, and the Cossack Pioneer on the North West Shelf in response to the tropical low off the Pilbara coast.

The Perth-based company is not sure how long production will be suspended for but says it will continue to monitor the low.

Oil production at Cossack Pioneer, Vincent and Enfield will resume “when weather permits,” a Woodside spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires.

Woodside operates the Cossack Pioneer floating storage and offloading facility on behalf of the North West Shelf Venture in Western Australia.

The company is the operator and 60 per cent owner of both the Vincent and Enfield fields. Japan’s Mitsui & Co holds the rest.