The Australian unit of Chevron Corporation (CVX) entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Japanese firm Kyushu Electric Power Co. Per the terms of the deal, Chevron along with Apache Corporation (APA) and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. will supply about 0.7 million tons per annum (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Wheatstone Project to Kyushu over a period of 20 years.
Kyushu will also acquire a 1.83% stake in the Wheatstone gas field licenses and a 1.46% interest in the Wheatstone natural gas processing facilities from Chevron.
Located about 124 miles north of Onslow, off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, the Wheatstone venture is proposed to be built with an annual output capacity of 25 million metric tons of LNG. The initial phase will see the construction of two processing units, known as trains, with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tons of LNG a year and a domestic gas plant.
Chevron acts as the operator of the project with a 73.6% interest, while the remaining stake is shared by Apache (13%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (7%) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A) (6.4%).
We believe that the agreement with Kyushu highlights Chevron’s efforts to commercialize its share of LNG from the Wheatstone project as well as fulfill the rising demand for LNG in the Asia-Pacific arena.
Earlier this month, the venture received the environmental approval from West Australian state government. Chevron now awaits a timely clearance from the country’s Federal government. The company plans to take the final investment decision on the Wheatstone project in 2011 and expects the plant to come online by 2016.
We believe that Chevron – with its Wheatstone project coupled with the other major Gorgon Project – will hold the leadership position among natural gas and LNG suppliers in the Asia-Pacific belt. These prominent resource ventures aim at providing considerable economic benefits such as employment, government revenue and local business opportunities.
Chevron shares currently retain a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We are also maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.
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