Customers Will Have Access to Increased Gas Volumes From Giant Greater Gorgon Area
SAN RAMON, Calif., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE: CVX) today announced that a Framework Agreement has been reached between its Australian affiliate and joint-venture participants to align their equity interests in the giant gas resources of the Greater Gorgon Area, offshore Western Australia.
The agreement provides the basis for the combined development of natural gas at Gorgon and nearby gas fields as one world-scale project.
The joint-venture participants have agreed to align their equity interests in individual licenses in the Greater Gorgon area. The new interests will be: ChevronTexaco (50%), ExxonMobil (25%) and Shell (25%). [Ownership details of the individual licenses of the Greater Gorgon Area are listed in the attached table.]
George Kirkland, ChevronTexaco executive vice president for Upstream and Gas, said, "The framework agreement reflects ChevronTexaco's strategy to develop its gas resources and lead the industry in the selection and execution of major capital projects. It will help ensure that the world-class gas fields of the Greater Gorgon Area are developed in the most technically and economically efficient way to meet the growing demand for gas in the Asia-Pacific region and North America."
The Greater Gorgon Area is one of the largest undeveloped natural gas accumulations in the region. "The development of this huge gas resource will truly create a new legacy asset for our company," Kirkland added.
The managing director of ChevronTexaco Australia, Jay Johnson, said that "The agreement is an important step forward for Australia's next major gas project and will bring benefits to the participants and the many stakeholders here in Australia.
"Marketing for Gorgon gas is well advanced, the government permitting and approvals process for the development is on track, and we have commenced preliminary front-end engineering and design activities," Johnson said.
The Western Australian government and the joint venture participants in 2003 signed a State Agreement to facilitate the development of the proposed 10 million-metric-ton-per-year Gorgon liquefied natural gas and domestic gas project on Barrow Island, offshore Western Australia that will use gas sourced from the Greater Gorgon Area. The agreement has been ratified by the Western Australian State Parliament.
The Framework Agreement announced today is consistent with the State Agreement and the Gorgon Environmental, Social and Economic (ESE) Review which preceded it.
ChevronTexaco Australia Pty. Ltd. is leading the development of, and is a joint-venture participant in, the Greater Gorgon Area licenses; is a joint-venture participant in the North West Shelf Venture; and is operator and joint venture participant in the Barrow Island and Thevenard Island oil fields. All are located off the northwest coast of Australia.
ChevronTexaco Corporation is one of the world's leading energy companies. With more than 47,000 employees, ChevronTexaco subsidiaries conduct business in approximately 180 countries around the world, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas, and refining, marketing and distributing fuels and other energy products. ChevronTexaco is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information on ChevronTexaco is available at www.chevrontexaco.com.
Ownership details:
Licence/Facility Equity
per Framework
Agreement
Barrow Island - planned ChevronTexaco* 50%
Gorgon Project Shell 25%
Infrastructure ExxonMobil 25%
WA-2R, WA-3R, WA-4R, ChevronTexaco* 50%
WA-5R, WA-14R Shell 25%
ExxonMobil 25%
WA-15R, WA-19R, WA-20R, ChevronTexaco* 50%
WA-21R Shell 25%
ExxonMobil 25%
WA-18R ChevronTexaco 50%
Exxon Mobil* 25%
Shell 25%
Note: Affiliates of ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and Shell are
participants in the title areas listed above.
Note: * indicates affiliate of the named company is operator
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT RELEVANT TO FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995.
Some of the items discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements about the Greater Gorgon natural gas project, offshore Western Australia. The statements are based upon management's current expectations, estimates, and projections; are not guarantees of future performance; and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the company's control and are difficult to predict. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the potential disruption or interruption of project activities, due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest or severe weather; inability or failure of the company's joint-venture partners to fund their share of project expenditures; and general economic and political conditions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of the press release. Unless legally required, ChevronTexaco undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules permit oil and gas companies to disclose only proved reserves in their filings with the SEC. Certain terms, such as "discovered gas" or "gas resource," are used in this press release that may not be permitted to be included in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors should refer to disclosures in ChevronTexaco's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.
SOURCE ChevronTexaco Corp.
04/05/2005
CONTACT: Donald Campbell of ChevronTexaco Corp. (San Ramon),
+1-925-842-2589;
or Peter Coghlan of ChevronTexaco Corp. (Perth),
+61-0-412-140-596/
Web site: http://www.chevrontexaco.com
(CVX)