Chevron Corp. on Thursday welcomed Australian Commonwealth Government approval by the Federal Environment Minister, the Hon. Tony Burke, MP, for its Wheatstone Project in Western Australia.

George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corp., said, "We welcome the Australian federal government's support for the Wheatstone Project. The federal environmental approval is an important milestone in reaching the final investment decision for the Wheatstone Project this year."

The foundation phase of the project will consist of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tons per annum (MTPA) and a domestic gas plant. It is scheduled to start production in 2016. The environmental approval allows the project capacity to increase to 25 MTPA.

Melody Meyer, president, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company, said, "Wheatstone and the previously sanctioned Gorgon project position Chevron as a major LNG operator delivering energy, jobs and economic benefits to Australia, as well as helping to meet long-term demand growth for cleaner burning fuel in the Asia-Pacific region."

Roy Krzywosinski, managing director, Chevron Australia, said, "The Wheatstone Project is one of Australia's largest resource projects and is ideally situated to process natural gas produced by Chevron-operated permits, and third parties, from the prolific western Carnarvon basin, one of Australia's most prospective areas for energy development."

The plant site is located in the Western Australian State Government's Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area, approximately 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) south of Onslow on the Pilbara coast.

The Wheatstone onshore foundation project is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (operator 73.6%), Apache (13%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (7%) and Shell (6.4%).