Chevron has started production from the third liquefaction train of its Gorgon LNG project in Australia, which is now complete. In the meantime, the production from the second train has been temporarily suspended in order to pave the way for some modification works.
This offshore project is located on Barrow Island in Western Australia. The first two 5.2 Mt/year liquefaction trains were commissioned in March 2016 and with the commissioning of the third train, the project is expected to deliver 15.6 Mt/year of LNG.
The Gorgon LNG project is a US$54bn joint venture operated by Chevron, which has a 47.3% stake. Other shareholders include ExxonMobil (25%), Shell (25%), Osaka Gas (1.25%), Tokyo Gas (1%) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417%).
The commissioning of the third train took place as planned and fits into Chevron Australia's strategy for 2017. The company also expects the first train of its Wheatstone LNG project by mid-2017 (second train expected in late 2017 or early 2018). After commissioning Gorgon LNG's third train and Wheatstone LNG's two units, Chevron will not develop other large greenfield LNG projects in Western Australia and will focus on "smaller, more targeted investments with quicker economic returns".