Under the agreement, TEPCO also intends to acquire 15% of Chevron’s equity share in the Wheatstone field licenses and an 11.25% interest in the Wheatstone natural gas processing facilities to be developed onshore near Onslow in northwestern Australia.
John Gass, president of Chevron Global Gas, said: “TEPCO is among the most experienced LNG buyers in the world. Their commitment to secure long-term LNG supplies from Wheatstone is a strong demonstration of their confidence in Chevron and represents another important step forward for the project.”
George Kirkland, executive vice president of Chevron Global Upstream and Gas, said: “We are pleased to welcome TEPCO as a foundation customer and equity partner in the Wheatstone project as we move the development forward. This HOA further demonstrates that Wheatstone is well positioned to deliver energy to the Asia Pacific region.”
The initial phase of the Wheatstone project will have the capacity to process 8.6 MTPA of LNG and will include a domestic gas plant. A final investment decision is expected in 2011.
In October, Chevron signed a binding agreement with Apache Julimar, which will assume a 16.25% equity interest in the Wheatstone project, and KUFPEC Australia (Julimar), a subsidiary of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, which will assume an 8.75% interest in the project.
