Chevron Corporation announces that its main Chinese subsidiary has signed a 30-year production-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for the joint development of the Chuandongbei natural gas area in central China. Chevron will take over the role of operator and hold a 49 percent participating interest and CNPC will hold a 51 percent interest in the project.
"The signing of this contract demonstrates our worldwide focus on large-scale exploration and production projects, and our long-term strategy to grow our business in China," said Dave O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation, during a signing ceremony in Beijing. "Chevron is pleased to bring our technological expertise and strong emphasis on safety, efficiency and reliability to develop the Chuandongbei gas project in partnership with CNPC."
Added Isikeli Taureka, Chevron's country manager for China: "This partnership is a milestone for future cooperation between CNPC and Chevron. We look forward to working with CNPC to find solutions to meet China's rapidly growing demand for energy. We also plan to undertake a multiphase work program with CNPC's subsidiary PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company to evaluate additional reserves in the contract area and commence front end engineering and design work."
The Chuandongbei gas development area covers nearly 2,000 square kilometers in the Sichuan province. Chuandongbei, which includes the Tieshanpo, Dukouhe-Qilibei and Luojiazhai gas fields, has an estimated resource base of 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Design capacity at the proposed gas plants is expected to be 740 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. We have approximately 58,000 employees, and our subsidiaries operate across the entire energy spectrum - exploring for, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing and distributing fuels and other energy products and services; manufacturing and selling petrochemical products; generating power; and developing and commercializing the energy resources of the future, including biofuels and other renewables. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
Key Facts
Total average daily production in 2006 from Chevron's interests in China was 100,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate (23,000 net) and 54 million cubic feet of natural gas (18 million net).
According to the International Energy Agency (World Outlook 2007), China's primary energy demand is projected to more than double from 2005 to 2030 and the country is expected to overtake the US as the world's largest energy consumer soon after 2010.
