Chevron has announced a significant increase in the costs related to its Wheatstone gas liquefaction project in Australia, due to delays in module deliveries, and has raised the cost of the project from US$29bn (2011 estimate) to US$34bn (+US$5bn, or +17%).
The Wheatstone LNG project near Onslow, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, is currently under construction and consists of two 4.45 Mt/year liquefaction trains (total capacity of 8.9 Mt/year). The first train was expected in 2016 and has been delayed to 2017. Both units are now scheduled to start production in mid-2017. The project is developed by Chevron (64.14%), Woodside (13%), Kyushu Electric (1.46%) and TEPCO (8%).
In late 2013, Chevron had already announced a US$17bn blowout at its Gorgon LNG project (cost raised to US$54bn) and a two-year delay. The Gorgon LNG project consists of three 5.2 Mt/year trains and six 180,000 m3 storage tanks; the first train was commissioned in March 2016 but production was suspended for two months due to technical problems (resumption in May 2016). The second train is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year and the third one in 2017.
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