PERTH/TOKYO, Jan 7 - U.S. major Chevron Corp (CVX.N) has signed a deal with Japan's Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T) for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Gorgon project in Australia, bringing total gas sales from the project to over 80 percent.
Chevron said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with Nippon Oil for the sale of 0.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG over 15 years from its A$43 billion ($40 billion) Gorgon development, located in western Australia.
The latest deal means Chevron now has sales agreements in place for around 6 mtpa of its share of Gorgon LNG and now has about 1.3 mtpa of equity gas that it needs to sell.
Nippon said separately that the Chevron agreement is its first long-term LNG deal, and that it is also planning to build a LNG receiving terminal in northern Japan, which is estimated to cost around 50 billion yen ($542 million).
Chevron initially owned half the Gorgon project, but its stake has now fallen to 47.75 percent after having sold some equity to Osaka Gas Co (9532.T) and Tokyo Gas Co (9531.T) as part of their supply contracts that totalled 2.475 million tonnes of LNG annually over 25 years.
ExxonMobil (XOM.N) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) each own 25 percent of the project, and the three companies are marketing their share of gas separately.
Gorgon, which is being built on Barrow Island off Western Australia, will have a production capacity of 15 mtpa, with first gas expected to start in 2014. ($1=1.081 Australian Dollar=92.30 Yen)
Chevron said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with Nippon Oil for the sale of 0.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG over 15 years from its A$43 billion ($40 billion) Gorgon development, located in western Australia.
The latest deal means Chevron now has sales agreements in place for around 6 mtpa of its share of Gorgon LNG and now has about 1.3 mtpa of equity gas that it needs to sell.
Nippon said separately that the Chevron agreement is its first long-term LNG deal, and that it is also planning to build a LNG receiving terminal in northern Japan, which is estimated to cost around 50 billion yen ($542 million).
Chevron initially owned half the Gorgon project, but its stake has now fallen to 47.75 percent after having sold some equity to Osaka Gas Co (9532.T) and Tokyo Gas Co (9531.T) as part of their supply contracts that totalled 2.475 million tonnes of LNG annually over 25 years.
ExxonMobil (XOM.N) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) each own 25 percent of the project, and the three companies are marketing their share of gas separately.
Gorgon, which is being built on Barrow Island off Western Australia, will have a production capacity of 15 mtpa, with first gas expected to start in 2014. ($1=1.081 Australian Dollar=92.30 Yen)
