Gorgon could reach monstrous size

Chevron executive vice president global upstream and gas George Kirkland told analysts during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call the company believed it had enough gas for the fourth train.

“I didn't say I had all the partners on board in that but I believe that. And we still have exploration opportunities in the Gorgon partnership.”

Chevron and its partners ExxonMobil and Shell are currently building the first three LNG production trains – each capable of producing 5 million tonnes of LNG per annum – with the first set to start producing in 2014 with the other two following at six month intervals.

However, the partners have said there is sufficient space at the development for an additional two trains.

Kirkland had said last year that Chevron remained interested in turning Gorgon into a five-train project, though it was focused on getting the first three trains up and running.

Kirkland added Chevron had awarded over $US24 billion in contracts for Gorgon and noted the company would like to accelerate the process of bringing the Wheatstone LNG project towards final investment decision but would not do so if it was not ready.

“A big hurdle for us is environmental permit. Just like environmental permits were needed on Gorgon, we must have those in place on Wheatstone.

“We've made good progress on the land tenure piece of it where the plant would be located. So overall we're very, very pleased with our progress.”

He said the company had signed heads of agreements covering about 80% of the LNG offtake from the first and second trains at Wheatstone.

“That gives us a lot of confidence that we can move forward ... where we stand in the market, it will not be the constraint going forward on Wheatstone.”
 
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
PetroleumNews.net
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