Chevron secures Wheatstone native title agreement

Chevron Australia has signed a native title heads of agreement for land required to develop its Wheatstone LNG project on the coast of Western Australia.

July 29, 2010

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, July 29 -- Chevron Australia has signed a native title heads of agreement for land required to develop its Wheatstone LNG project on the coast of Western Australia.

The agreement with the Thalanyji people covers the 500-hectare site earmarked as part of the State Government’s North Ashburton Strategic Industrial Area 12 km south of Onslow.

The document provides them with major benefits involving education, training, employment, business development, and financial support.

The Wheatstone site includes the proposed plant area and port facility plus additional land for the access corridor, accommodation camp, and domestic gas pipeline corridor.

This will allow for as many as five LNG trains to be constructed at the site with a total capacity of 25 million tonnes/year as well as the domestic gas plant.

Meanwhile, Shell Australia, which owns part of the offshore Iago gas field that will feed gas into the first two LNG trains of the project, is looking closely at the Wheatstone development including the commercial terms under which it might join the project.