Chevron sells 1st condensate cargo from Australia's Wheatstone LNG

[SINGAPORE] Chevron Corp has sold the first condensate cargo to be exported from the Wheatstone LNG project in Australia to Thailand's PTT, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

The 650,000-barrel cargo will load in February and was likely done at a small discount to dated Brent, they said.

Chevron has chartered the Aframax-sized oil tanker Maersk Princess to load condensate from Australia on Feb. 21 and that is likely to be for the PTT sale, according to one of the sources and shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Chevron declined to comment. PTT does not typically discuss commercial matters and did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Condensate production capacity of the Wheatstone and Lago fields, and nearby third-party fields, is 30,000 barrels per day, Chevron has said on its website, and original development plans called for the oil to load from the Ashburton terminal on the northern coast of Western Australia.

The condensate - an ultra light oil that is often produced alongside natural gas - is expected to have an API gravity of about 66 degrees, the sources said. They declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media.

Woodside Petroleum - one of the partners in the Wheatstone project - could market a second condensate cargo from the project for loading in April-May, the sources said.

Woodside said it does not comment on commercial matters.

Chevron's chief executive said on Friday that the second train at Wheatstone LNG should come online in the second quarter of this year.

The project started production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in October and exported its first super-chilled gas cargo to Japan in the same month.

REUTERS