Green light for Gorgon

Chevron Corporation has announced its decision to move the Australian Greater Gorgon gas development into the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase.

The FEED scope for the Greater Gorgon development includes the establishment of a two-train (10 million tonnes per year) liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and domestic gas plant on Barrow Island, supplied by gas fields in the Greater Gorgon area. The Greater Gorgon area is one of the largest undeveloped natural gas accumulations in the region.

The Greater Gorgon development is being pursued by an unincorporated joint venture consisting of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron, which holds 50 percent, and ExxonMobil and Shell, each holding a 25 percent interest. The partners recently signed a Framework Agreement to align their equity interests and to pave the way for the combined development of Gorgon and nearby gas fields as one world-scale project.

In conjunction with the FEED decision, the Gorgon joint venture is awarding two major contracts worth a total of more than $75 million (AUD $100 million) to complete the development's Front End Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management activities during the next 12 months.

The upstream contract, which includes all subsea facilities associated with transporting the gas to the processing facility, will be undertaken by JP Kenny/Technip in a 50/50 joint venture involving their Australian entities. Perth, Western Australia will be the central focus for upstream activities.

The downstream contract, which includes the LNG facility on

, will be undertaken by the Kellogg Joint Venture -- Greater Gorgon, which includes Australian-based partner Clough Projects Australia.