Chevron, Tohoku Electric sign Wheatstone LNG agreement
Chevron Corp. has signed a binding, 20-year agreement with Tohoku Electric Power Co. for the supply of LNG from the Wheatstone project offshore Western Australia.
Chevron will sell 900,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of LNG to the Japanese firm. The deal means that 85% of Chevron’s share of production from the Wheatstone project has been contracted to customers in the Asian region on a long-term basis.
So far the project will be capable of producing 8.9 million tpy of LNG, although the Chevron joint venture has been granted government approval for a 25-million tpy facility, paving the way for future expansion opportunities.
The onshore plant is being constructed at Ashburton North about 7.5 km west of Onslow. Initially it will comprise two LNG trains as well as production from a domestic gas plant.
Wheatstone will take gas from Chevron’s Wheatstone field as well as from the company’s nearby Iago field and Apache Energy-Kufpec’s Julimar and Brunello fields.
Several other companies, including Kyushu Electric Power Co. (OGJ Online, Sept. 19, 2011) and Chubu Electric Power Co. (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2013), have already signed LNG supply contracts for Wheatstone.
About 15% of Wheatstone’s production will feed into the Western Australian gas grid. Domestic production will begin at 187 TJ/day and increase over time to around 500 TJ/day once the full 25 million tpy capacity is reached.
