WHEN Chevron, Texaco and Caltex merged in October 2001 they created the world’s fourth largest energy company – a company that last week reported operating earnings of $US1.237 billion for the September quarter, and a net loss of $US904 million.
OPEC quotas and production disruptions affected oil production, bringing it down by a daily 49,000 barrels, Chevron-Texaco chairman and chief executive officer Dave O’Reilly said.
Downstream earnings fell 80 per cent on the comparable period last year.
Mr O’Reilly described refined product margins as “exceptionally weak”.
Following the merger, ChevronTexaco vice-chairman and head of E&P operations, Peter Robertson, described the company’s Australian and West African gas as very significant resource bases.
In WA, ChevronTexaco is an equal one sixth stakeholder in the North West Shelf venture.
It holds 57 per cent of the Gorgon gas field and operates Barrow and Thevenard Islands oil production, with a 51.4 per cent stake.
The other partners in Barrow and Thevenard oil are Santos (35.7 per cent) and ExxonMobil (12.9 per cent).
The Barrow oil is in a tight reservoir, and although some production will continue for 20 years, new, as-yet unavailable technology would be required to extract maximum quantities.
Reserves in the Greater Gorgon gas fields have been put at 40 trillion cubic feet, and ChevronTexaco is keen to develop this to meet a predicted surge in Asia-Pacific demand.
“Gas as an energy source is growing faster than all other fossil fuels energy sources, and we are very well positioned in Australia to serve this growing market,” Gorgon Area Gas general manager Paul Oen said.
“In order to capture that gas demand you also have to have a development plan. You have to be competitive.”
The Io/Jantz area of the Greater Gorgon region – in which ChevronTexaco and Exxon-Mobil are equal partners – contained gas of a very high quality, Mr Oen said
While five new fields had been determined there since 1999, with “very exciting future development possibilities”, much more appraisal and assessment work needed to be done, he said.
LNG technology had enabled developments to become far more efficient and greenhouse friendly compared with just seven years back.
If ChevronTexaco could add in carbon dioxide disposal below Barrow, it would represent another improvement in greenhouse efficiency.
The reinjection of carbon dioxide would add to Barrow Island’s reputation as a show-case for sustainability, Mr Oen said, with the only other reinjection in offshore Norway.
“It would really bring this project into world-class in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
