New major gas project in Australia launched by Chevron

Chevron has informed that it plans to develop a liquefied natural gas export venture based on its 100 percent-owned Wheatstone field off northwestern Australia. The facility will be built on the northwest coast of mainland Australia, it said, ruling out a location on Barrow Island, the nearby site of Chevron's Gorgon LNG venture with Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Chevron aims to start engineering and design work for an initial 5 million metric tons (5.5 million U.S. tons) per year natural gas facility in 2009, the San Ramon, California-based company said in a statement.