Chevron-led Wheatstone LNG Starts Production
The Chevron-operated Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia has begun production after months of delays, the company said October 9.
The first cargo is on track to be shipped in the coming weeks, it said.
In late July, Chevron announced it was expecting the facility to begin producing LNG in August.
“First LNG production is a significant milestone and is a credit to our partners, contractors and the many thousands of people who collaborated to deliver this legacy asset,” Chevron chairman and CEO John Watson said.
“Wheatstone adds to our legacy gas position in Australia that will be a significant cash generator for decades to come,” he said.
At full capacity, the Wheatstone Project’s two train LNG facility will supply 8.9 million metric tons per year of LNG (equivalent to 12.3bn m3/yr) for export to customers in Asia. It is located 12 kilometres west of Onslow and processes natural gas from the Chevron-operated Wheatstone and Lago fields.
Additionally it is also expected to be able to provide up to 200 terajoules of gas daily (2bn m3/yr) for the Western Australian market.
Chief executive of Australian gas industry body APPEA, Malcolm Roberts, said the project is the latest in a wave of “unprecedented LNG investment” in Australia.
Australia is reaping the benefits of A$200 bn worth of new investment that will see LNG exports surge from 30 million metric tons in 2015 to more than 85 million metric tons by 2020, he said.
Chevron said earlier in the year that the second train at the Wheatstone project is expected to start-up six-to-eight months after train 1.
The Chevron-operated Wheatstone LNG facility is a joint venture between Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (64.14%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, Kufpec (13.4%), Woodside Petroleum (13%), and Kyushu Electric Power Company (1.46%), together with PE Wheatstone, part owned by JERA (8%).
“Wheatstone is a world-class asset and the safe start-up of the facility was one of our priorities for 2017, supporting our near-term growth strategy," said Woodside CEO Peter Coleman. Once fully operational, Wheatstone LNG is expected to contribute over 13mn boe to Woodside’s annual production.
Nathan Richardson