A New Source of Vital Energy
Wheatstone is one of Australia’s largest resource projects – providing greater security of supply and significant economic benefits such as employment, government revenue and local business opportunities.
In conjunction with the Gorgon Project, it reinforces our position as a leading natural gas supplier and liquefied natural gas (LNG) operator in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chevron is the operator of the Wheatstone Project and holds an approximate 73 percent interest in the project.
Gas will be processed at an onshore facility located at Ashburton North, 12km west of Onslow in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The foundation project will include two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per year and a domestic gas plant.
Providing Third Party Gas Opportunities - New Partners Welcome
Ashburton North, in north Western Australia, is an ideal location for an LNG hub given its proximity to all the discovered gas resources in the Western Carnarvon Basin.
There are precious few good, suitable port sites in the region and the Wheatstone plant provides a foundation for commercialising both existing and future gas resources.
Already, local subsidiaries of Apache Corporation (13%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (7%) and Shell (6.4 %) have signed deals to become equity participants in the Wheatstone Project. The first two LNG trains will be supplied with gas from the Chevron operated Wheatstone & Iago fields. Apache and KUFPEC will bring gas to Wheatstone from their Julimar and Brunello fields.
We are committed to providing much-needed new and cleaner burning energy to Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, having signed a Sales and Purchase Agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to buy 3.1 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the Wheatstone Project for a period of up to 20 years. More recently, Chevron signed a Sales and Purchase Agreement with Kyushu Electric Power Company to deliver 0.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG for up to 20 years.
Using Human Energy to Harness a Substantial New Resource
We discovered Wheatstone in August 2004 and in March 2008 announced our intention to develop the gas resource as a greenfield onshore LNG and domestic gas project.
Since then we've completed successful appraisal programs to further understand the Wheatstone and Iago fields’ potential.
Drawing on all the human energy in Chevron, including at the Global Technology Centre in Perth, will make Wheatstone the most advanced, environmentally responsible LNG project in the world.
Site Selection
Responsibly and Respectfully Choosing the Best Location
In December 2008, we selected a preferred site at Ashburton North - 12 kilometres west of Onslow on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia as the location for the LNG and domestic gas plant.
We selected the Ashburton North site after a 12 month study and extensive community consultation to find the location most suitable from environmental, community, social impact and engineering aspects.