JOGMEC Assists Japanese Companies to Participate in Wheatstone LNG Project

JOGMEC announced today that it will provide equity financing and loan guarantee of around Yen 28.2 billion ($356 million) to the newly established Japanese vehicle to acquire a participating interest in the Wheatstone LNG Project, one of the largest resource projects in Australia, operated by Chevron Corporation.

The foundation phase of the Wheatstone Project consists of two LNG processing trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), a domestic gas plant at Ashburton North in Western Australia, and associated offshore production facilities. The onshore foundation project is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (operator 72.14%), Apache (13%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) (7%), Shell (6.4%) and Kyushu Electric (1.46%). The first two LNG trains will be supplied with gas from the Chevron-operated Wheatstone and Iago fields owned by Chevron (approx. 90%), Shell (8%) and Kyushu Electric (1.83%) as well as Julimar and Brunello fields of Apache and KUFPEC. First LNG is planned for 2016.

PE Wheatstone Pty. Ltd. (PEW), a subsidiary of Pan Pacific Energy K.K. (PE), a Japanese corporation recently established by Mitsubishi Corporation, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO), will acquire 8% interest in the onshore LNG facility and 10% in the Wheatstone and Iago fields from Chevron. JOGMEC will fund approximately 42% of PE’s voting shares coupled with a loan guarantee covering up to 40% of bank loan to be disbursed to PEW. JOGMEC’s financial assistance will become effective upon the completion of PEW’s participation, and its terms and conditions are subject to the related binding agreements.

PE/PEW’s participation in the Wheatstone Project will reinforce the stable energy supply to Japan, specifically, under long-term off-take agreements, 4.2 MTPA LNG delivered to TEPCO.

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LNG World News Staff, June 19, 2012