Chevron upbeat on Australia's LNG

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SAN RAMON, Calif., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in Australia is "on budget and on schedule," an executive from U.S. supermajor Chevron Corp. said.

Chevron in June signed a liquefied natural gas deal with Tokyo Electric Power Co. Tepco is to get 400,000 tons of LNG per year from the company's Wheatstone project in Australia, bringing its total uptake to 4.2 tons per year under the terms of a 20-year agreement.

The company said Australia was one of the places where it was expecting to make "notable major capital investments." Its Gorgon LNG project is about 55 percent complete and could ship its first cargo by 2015.

Early this year, Chevron said that more than 80 percent of its LNG from Wheatstone is covered under long-term agreements with customers in Asia.

Chevron Vice Chairman George Kirkland said it was expecting continued growth in the Australian gas sector.

"The Wheatstone LNG project is currently 7 percent complete and is on budget and on schedule," he added.

Construction started last year. First gas is expected by 2016.