Chevron Wheatstone Project to generate 6,000+ jobs

Chevron’s second major project after Gorgon now has the official go-ahead, making Western Australia the world’s second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) behind Qatar.

The $29 billion Wheatstone LNG project was given federal environmental approval last week to proceed.

Wheatstone is a joint venture project with Chevron 73.6 per cent, Apache 13 per cent, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Co (KUFPEC) 7 per cent, Shell Australia 6.4 per cent.

Located about 250 kilometres off the coast of Onslow, north-west Western Australia, gas from the field will be pumped via subsea pipelines to the onshore processing facility just north of the town of Onslow.

Up to 3,500 jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs will be created during the construction phase of approximately six years.

A permanent workforce of 300 will operate the rigs and plant.

It is expected that the project will generate a revenue stream of some $20 billion over the 20-year life of the project.  Chevron has also committed to spend $17 billion on Australian goods and services over the life of the project.

A number of work packages have already been awarded: 

• The Upstream work scope for detailed engineering and construction of the platform has been awarded to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).  DSME is one of the world's largest shipyards, producing various vessels and off shore platforms for the global oil and gas industry.  DSME will design, construct, transport and install the processing platform, which will be located in 72 metres of water, about 200km north of Onslow and about 145km from the nearest mainland shore. The platform will have a steel gravity structure and topsides will be designed for conventional float through/float over deck installation.  This work will be undertaken in Korea.
• Design of the subsea component is being conducted by Intecsea, part of the Worley Parsons group, with all of that work being done in Perth.
• The Wheatstone Platform design is being done by Technip, with a significant portion of this work being undertaken in Perth.
• The gas plant design and engineering is being done by engineering, procurement and construction contractor Bechtel.

The name Wheatstone comes from the Wheatstone Channel in the Montebello Islands, an archipelago of 174 small islands 130 kilometres off the Pilbara coast. The Montebello Islands are about 25 kilometres north of Barrow Island and 95 kilometres south of the Wheatstone gas field.

As work contracts are awarded, we will alert you to the potential career opportunities.