(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) — US major Chevron Corp said it has secured a 20-year agreement to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a Japanese power company from its US$29 billion joint-venture Wheatstone project on the coast of Western Australia.

Tohuku Electric Power Co will buy up to one million tonnes of LNG a year from the Chveron-led project whose shareholders include US independent Apache (13%), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (7%), Shell (6.4%) and Japan’s Kyushu Electric (1.46%).

Wheatstone will become one of Australia’s largest resource projects when it starts production in 2016. Located at Ashburton North, 12 km west of Onslow town in Western Australia, the project’s foundation phase comprises two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes/year and a domestic gas plant.

With this latest sale, Roy Krzywosinski, managing director of Chevron Australia, said, more than 80% of the company’s equity LNG from Wheatstone is now covered under long-term off-take agreements with customers in Asia.

Joe Geagea, President of Chevron Gas and Midstream, said:

“We are pleased Tohoku has agreed to source a significant portion of its annual energy supply requirements from the Wheatstone Project, which further highlights customersconfidence in Wheatstone as a safe, reliable energy source.”