Chevron Australia has reported it has begun production at its Wheatstone liquified natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia's north west.
The Wheatstone project is a joint venture between Chevron, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, Woodside Petroleum and Kyushu Electric Power Company.
The first shipment of LNG from Chevron's Wheatstone project is expected in coming weeks.
At full capacity, Wheatstone will produce 8.9 million tonnes of LNG a year for export to Asia.
But in a deal with Alinta Energy last year, Chevron agreed to a domestic gas agreement to supply 200 terajoules a day into the West Australian market.
In a statement Chevron Australia managing director Nigel Hearne said the Wheatstone project had created in excess of 7,000 jobs.
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Malcolm Roberts said LNG from Wheatstone would mean access to cleaner-burning energy for WA.
Dr Roberts said his organisation expected LNG exports to more than double and increase from 30 million tonnes in 2015 to 85 million tonnes by 2020.
