First discovered in 1981, the Greater Gorgon gas fields located offshore northwestern Australia have an estimated 40 Tcf of gas and a development life span of 60 years. These massive assets are being converted to LNG by the Gorgon JV, which includes the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (operator with a 50% stake), ExxonMobil (25%), and Shell (25%).

Approved by the Australian authorities in 2007, the LNG project includes 56 miles (90 kilometers) of subsea pipelines from the fields to Barrow Island, where the facilities will be located. Approved LNG facilities include two 5 million tonne per year LNG trains, condensate handling units and a loading berth for LNG tankers. The Gorgon project also includes carbon dioxide reinjection units and a 300 TJ/d domestic gas plant to supply natural gas to Australia.

Since governmental approval the JV has applied for approval of another 5-million tonne per year LNG train, which takes Gorgon's LNG processing capabilities to 15 million tones a year. Governmental approval is expected.

The Kellogg JV, consisting of KBR, JGC, Hatch and Clough, was awarded the FEED for the processing facilities, LNG plant and export facilities.

Gorgon LNG has been committed to a number of markets worldwide. LNG will be shipped to the Sempra Energia Costa Azul LNG terminal in Mexico. Additionally, Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. in India has signed an MOU for 0.5 Mtpa LNG, and PetroChina has signed a Heads of Agreement for 1.0 Mtpa LNG for 20 years. Japanese companies Tokyo Gas, Chubu Electric and Osaka Gas have all inked a heads of agreement for the purchase of Gorgon LNG. GS Caltex of South Korea has signed a 20-year agreement as well.

The estimated total cost of the Gorgon project is $17.61 billion.