TEPCO Plans Stake Buy in Wheatstone LNG

Tokyo Electric Power Co along with three other Japanese may buy into Chevron’s Wheatstone natural gas project in Australia, media reports said.

Along Mitsubishi Corp., Nippon Yusen KK and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp., TEPCO now plans to acquire a 10 percent interest in the development and an 8 percent stake in the liquefied natural gas project, reports said.

The total cost to the purchase will reportedly be about $4.35 billion.

TEPCO has inked a deal to buy 3.1 million tonne of LNG out of the 8.9 million tonne that the project will produce. The first supply of gas is expected to start in 2016. The planned acquisition of interests in the gas field will allow TEPCO to expand its annual LNG procurement to 4.2 million tonne.