Chevron has started LNG production at the Wheatstone Project in Western Australia. The first cargo is on track to be shipped in the coming weeks.
At full capacity, the Wheatstone Project's two train LNG facility will supply 8.9 MTPA of LNG for export to Asia.
The development comprises onshore facilities at Ashburton North, west Australia, the Wheatstone platform - the largest offshore gas-processing platform installed in Australia, with a ~37,000-tonne topside - subsea wells and a 225km trunkline from the platform to Ashburton.
In April 2015, Wheatstone made history with Chevron’s heaviest topsides float-over and installation onto the steel gravity substructure (SGS). Sitting in 70m water depth, the platform is 225m tall from the base of the SGS to the top of the flare tower and designed to withstand 12 storey-high cyclonic waves.
At 112cm in diameter, the trunkline from the platform to the shore is Australia’s largest diameter gas pipeline.
Some 80% of the Wheatstone Project’s foundation capacity will be fed with natural gas from the Wheatstone and Iago fields, operated by Chevron Australia in partnership with Australian subsidiaries of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC) and Kyushu Electric Power Co., together with PE Wheatstone (part owned by JERA).
The remaining 20% of gas will be supplied from the Julimar and Brunello fields held by Australian subsidiaries of Woodside Petroleum and KUFPEC.