Year 2007

 May

Chevron plans to invest $4 billion in Asia

Chevron Corp, the second largest US oil company by market value, plans to invest approximately US$4 billion (Bt132 billion) in Asia this year, mainly for petroleum exploration and production.

“The company sees Asia as a very attractive place for investment for future growth,” Chevron Asia South managing director Steve Green said at the weekend.

“Of the company’s total investment this year of around $20 billion, 20 per cent of that is being invested in Asia.”

Major investments in Asia include the Gorgon liquefied natural gas development project offshore Australia, building up production in Indonesia and Thailand, as well as exploration in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam, Green said.

Chevron targets to increase its global production by an average of more than 3 per cent a year between now and 2010, he added.

At the end of 2006, Chevron’s combined gross production of crude oil and natural gas averaged 2.25 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Asia currently accounts for 25 per cent of Chevron’s 62- billion barrel of oil equivalent global resource base.

Chevron’s production in Thailand, where it is the largest natural gas supplier, will increase by at least 160 million standard cubic feet a day this year, following completion of its de-bottlenecking programmed late last year, Green said.

However, he declined to provide an estimate for Chevron’s 2007 natural gas production in Thailand.

At end-March, the company’s daily production averaged more than 144,000 barrels of oil, 73,000 barrels of condensate and 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Chevron is in final negotiations with Thailand’s oil and gas giant PTT, the country’s sole natural gas buyer, to supply an additional 330 mmscf/d of natural gas from its Platong II field in the Gulf of Thailand, Green said.

Production at Platong II is expected to start in 2010.

In 2007, the company’s production in Bangladesh will increase by at least 200 million standard cubic feet a day after it officially started production at the Bibiyany field in March. Production at the field alone is targeted to rise to 500 mmscf/d by 2010, Green said.

In 2006, Chevron’s total daily production in Bangladesh averaged 310 mmscf/d of natural gas.

“We’re looking for onshore and offshore opportunities in China,” Green said, adding that Chevron is also evaluating potential exploration projects in India.

The company has five exploration and production projects in China. Its total average daily production in 2006 from its interests in China was 100,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate and 54 mmscf/d of natural gas.

Chevron does not have any petroleum exploration projects in India. It owns a 5 per cent stake in Reliance Petroleum Ltd, which operates a 580,000-barrel a day refinery.

In Cambodia, Chevron expects to finalise petroleum reserve estimation and exploration at its offshore oil and gas Block A in the next few months, after having drilled four exploration wells earlier this year, Green said without elaboration on the company’s plans in Vietnem.

This article is written by The Nation

21/05/2007

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