Chevron in $60 billion supply deal

Energy giant Chevron has signed deals worth $60 billion to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan and South Korea, it has been announced. The firmÔÇÖs Australian unit is to supply three million tons of LNG from its Gorgon gas field to both countries each year. Osaka Gas will receive 1.375 million tons and Tokyo Gas 1.1 million tons, every year over a period of 25 years. South KoreaÔÇÖs GS Caltex will receive 0.5 million tons on a per-annum basis over a period of up to 20 years. As part of the deal, Chevron, which currently holds 50 percent of shares in the Gorgon project, will sell 1.25 percent of shares to Osaka Gas and 1 percent to Tokyo Gas.  The Gorgon project, off AustraliaÔÇÖs northwest coast, has a full production capacity of 15 million tons per year.  "Securing sales agreements with three major customers in Japan and Korea is a significant milestone in Chevron's efforts to commercialize our equity natural gas and grow our LNG business," said John Gass, president of Chevron Global Gas. "With Osaka Gas and Tokyo Gas, we have as foundation customers two of the most experienced LNG buyers in the largest LNG market in the world," he added. "The agreements with GS Caltex provide our initial entry into the important Korean LNG market and GS Caltex's first expansion from refining, petrochemicals and power into LNG." Chevron has said it hopes to achieve further sales of LNG from Gorgon later this year. Supply from the Japanese and South Korean agreements is expected to commence in 2014.  In August, ExxonMobil agreed to sell 2.25 million tons of LNG per year to Chinese state-owned PetroChina, in a deal worth $50 billion over 20 yearsÔÇöthe biggest in AustraliaÔÇÖs history. San Ramon, California-based Chevron has approximately 62,000 employees around the world.  *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *