Chevron Corporation Plans to Develop Wheatstone LNG Production & Export Project in Australia

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California) is in the early evaluation phase of constructing a new LNG production and export facility on the west coast of Australia. The proposed Wheatstone LNG project will have an initial production capacity of 10 million-15 million metric tons per year of LNG and is the third major LNG production venture of Chevron in Australia. The estimated cost of the project is $20 billion. Chevron is currently the lead developer for the 15 million-metric- ton-per-year Gorgon LNG project scheduled to come online in 2013 and is a founding member of the North West Shelf Venture which is now developing the Browse LNG project, which has a capacity of 4.5 million metric tons per year. For further information, see related article from December 8, 2008 - Chevron Consortium to Make Final Investment Decision on Gorgon LNG Project Next Year.

The Wheatstone field is located approximately 90 miles off the coast of western Australia in the Carnarvon Basin in 650 feet of water. Chevron is considering constructing offshore production facilities and a subsea pipeline to connect it to Ash Burton North, Onslow or Cape Preston, where the LNG liquefaction facilities would be constructed onshore. The initial phase of the development will tap an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Chevron is also considering the construction of a 250 million-cubic-foot-per-day natural-gas-processing plant to supply domestic needs as well as a power plant of an undetermined size. Chevron expects to award the front-end engineering and design contract for Wheatstone some time in 2009, with a final investment decision to come in the third quarter of 2010.

Construction of the Wheatstone LNG project could begin as early as 2011, with the first shipments of LNG ready for export by 2014. If the Wheatstone, Gorgon and Browse LNG projects come to fruition, Chevron will become a leading natural-gas supplier and operator of LNG facilities not only in Australia, but also the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

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