27 July, 2011, Tokyo: Today, TEPCO signed Sale and Purchase Agreements
(SPAs) with Chevron's Australian subsidiaries (Chevron Australia Pty Ltd
and Chevron (TAPL) Pty Ltd) (Chevron), Apache Julimar Pty Ltd and KUFPEC
Australia (Julimar) Pty Ltd, for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
from the Wheatstone LNG Project located in Australia.
Under the SPAs, TEPCO will purchase approximately 3.1 million tonnes of
LNG per annum, commencing from 2017, for a period of up to 20 years.
The Wheatstone LNG Project is located at Ashburton North in Western
Australia and will liquefy natural gas produced from gas fields
approximately 220 km off shore of the liquefaction plant. The project
will initially comprise two liquefaction trains with a total capacity of
approximately 8.9 million tonnes per annum, with anticipated start up in
2016.
TEPCO signed Heads of Agreement with Chevron in December 2009, regarding
LNG offtake from the Wheatstone LNG Project. After the Heads of Agreement
were entered into, TEPCO and Chevron welcomed Apache and KUFPEC as sellers.
Today, the parties have agreed and signed the SPAs setting out the detailed
terms and conditions for LNG offtake from the Wheatstone LNG Project.
The Wheatstone LNG Project is the 12th project from which TEPCO has
contracted to purchase LNG on a long-term basis. TEPCO believes that the
sale and purchase of LNG from the Wheatstone LNG Project will increase
the security of its LNG supply, as it is a large-scale purchase from a
robust and promising greenfield project. TEPCO expects that the Wheatstone
LNG Project will become one of the major sources of its LNG procurement
portfolio.
The conclusion of the SPAs marks a further step in the implementation of
TEPCO's policy of pursuing stable and economical procurement of fuels in
order to maintain secure supplies of energy.
Appendix: Summary of LNG SPAs (PDF 40.8KB)