IN a major milestone for Chevron and its joint venture partners, the maiden shipment of liquefied natural gas from the Gorgon Project has departed from Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia, bound for Japan.

“Departure of the first cargo from the Gorgon Project is a key milestone in our commitment to be a reliable LNG provider for customers across the Asia-Pacific region,” Chevron executive vice president, midstream and development, Mike Wirth said yesterday.

“This is also important for our investors as we begin to generate revenue from a project we expect will operate for decades to come.”

The LNG cargo will be delivered by the Asia Excellence, one of Chevron’s new state-of-the-art LNG carriers. The company is in the final stages of a large shipbuilding and modernisation program which will bolster its fleet of LNG carriers by six.

The Gorgon Project is supplied from the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields, located within the Greater Gorgon area, between 130 km (80 miles) and 220 km (136 miles) off the northwest coast of Western Australia. It includes a 15.6 MTPA LNG plant on Barrow Island, a carbon dioxide injection project and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 terajoules of gas per day to Western Australia.

AREEA chief executive Steve Knott congratulated Chevron on reaching the milestone.

“With this first shipment, Chevron has demonstrated that world-leading mega projects can be successfully developed in Australia. The company and all project stakeholders should be congratulated for their commitment to construct and operate one our country’s most significant resource projects,” Mr Knott said.

“Chevron’s investments in Australia have already created tens of thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities, and contributed billions of dollars through local community development, Australian business contracts, training and education initiatives, and research and development.

“The operation of Gorgon, soon to be followed by the Wheatstone Project, will see Australians further benefit from royalties and taxes for years to come.”

For more information on the Gorgon Project, visit Chevron Australia.