Chevron said the Clio-2 well in WA-205-P, 150 kilometres northwest of Onslow, discovered 115m of net gas pay and follows the significant Clio-1 discovery made in 2006.
In WA-365-P, the Kentish Knock-1 well discovered 34m of net gas pay. Kentish Knock-1 is situated within the Exmouth Plateau and is 300km northwest of the WA coastline.
The well was drilled using the Atwood Eagle semisubmersible rig to a depth of 2500m.
Chevron is operator and holds a 66.66% interest in WA-205-P. The company is also operator of WA-365-P and holds a 50% interest. Shell holds the remaining interests in the permits.
Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski said the two gas discoveries demonstrated the company's commitment to actively exploring and developing WA's world-class gas resources.
"As we move forward with the Chevron-operated Gorgon and Wheatstone natural gas projects, Western Australia will play a key role in the growth of our global natural gas business," he said.
Yesterday, Gorgon partner ExxonMobil secured another customer for its share of LNG from Gorgon, signing a deal to supply PetroChina with 2.25 million tonnes per annum of LNG.
The 20-year sales and purchase agreement, worth an estimated $A50 billion, brings the total amount of LNG covered by Exxon's contracts up to 3.75 million tonnes per annum, or its entire share of LNG from the project.
The Gorgon project consists of the development of the Gorgon and Io/Jansz fields that will be linked by subsea pipelines to Barrow Island, where the three-train LNG plant - capable of producing 15 million tonnes per annum of LNG - will be located.
It will include a 300-terajoule per day domestic gas plant and pipeline to the mainland, as well as a carbon dioxide sequestration project aimed at storing the high CO2 levels present in Gorgon gas in deep formations beneath Barrow Island.
Chevron expects to make a final investment decision on the project in the coming months.
The Wheatstone field in WA-253-P and WA-17-6 was discovered in 2004 and is 200km north of Onslow.
Chevron will supply the Wheatstone project with gas from its wholly owned Wheatstone field and the adjacent Iago field operated by the company.
The Iago field was discovered in 2000 and spans two retention permits: WA-17-R, owned by Chevron, and WA-16-R, in which Shell Development has a one-third share.
In a recent conference call, Chevron global upstream and gas executive vice president George Kirkland said the company had enough gas to underpin two 4.3 million tonne per annum trains at Wheatstone but would like to expand the project by adding more trains.
"We would like to have a much bigger footprint, more trains," he said. "We've had other exploration opportunities in Australia, so we would like to be able to bank a bigger footprint, ie, more trains."
Final investment decision for Wheatstone is expected in 2011.
