Chevron Approves Australian Wheatstone Project

Oil giant Chevron (NYSE:CVX) has given the green light to an Australian subsidiary to proceed with the construction of its Wheatstone Project on the island nations west coast.

The approval comes as companies continue to expand their production presence in Australia to prepare for an expected increase in demand from Asia as the region continues to industrialize.

This project, along with Gorgon LNG, is well-positioned to provide a large, secure energy supply to meet growing demand in the Asia-Pacific region, and to place Chevron as one of the worlds leading LNG suppliers, said Chevron CEO John Watson.

The projects foundation phase, which will consist of two LNG processing trains with combined capacity of 8.9 million tons per annum, a domestic gas plant and associated offshore infrastructure, will cost about $29 billion.

That part of the construction, which also includes subsea equipment, drilling and an export trunkline, is slated to be ready-for-use in 2016.

The project was recently granted final federal approval for 25 million tons per annum LNG development, which the company said paves the way for future expansion opportunities.

The onshore foundation, which is located at Ashburton North, about 7.5 miles west of Onslow on the Pilbara Coast, is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiary of Chevron, Apache, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company and Shell.