Chevron has started to produce LNG at the Wheatstone project (12 km west of Onslow, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia). The first liquefaction train is now operational while the second train is scheduled to start production between March and May 2018. Chevron intends to send the first LNG shipment in a few weeks.
The Wheatstone LNG facility consists of two 4.45 Mt/year liquefaction trains (total capacity of 8.9 Mt/year) and processes natural gas from the nearby Chevron-operated offshore Wheatstone and Iago fields. The project is developed by Chevron Australian subsidiaries (64.14%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) (13.4%), Woodside Petroleum Limited (13%), Kyushu Electric (1.46%) and PE Wheatstone Pty Ltd (partly owned by JERA, 8%). Chevron also owns a 80.2% stake in the offshore licenses containing the Wheatstone and Iago fields.
In March 2017, Chevron also commissioned the third train of its Gorgon LNG project. The company reported that after having fully commissioned both Wheatstone LNG and Gorgon LNG, it will change its strategy and focus on smaller, more targeted investments with quicker economic returns. The company believes that developing new greenfield LNG mega-projects is unlikely to happen and the industry will shift its focus to smaller developments.
Source: Chevron Australia