Chevron plans to add 650,000 bpd production over next two years

Chevron expects new project start-ups and continued ramping up of existing projects to contribute production of 650,000 bpd over the next two years, according to George Kirkland, Chevron's vice president-of upstream and gas.
"In addition, the depth of our portfolio provides us with the flexibility to optimize project timing to take advantage of lower expected capital costs," Kirkland said ahead of a company meeting with analysts.

Chevron expects the Gorgon liquefied natural gas project in Australia to be sanctioned during the second half of this year and was advancing toward front-end engineering and design later this year for the Wheatstone LNG project, also in Australia, Kirkland said.
"We've made substantial progress on both Gorgon and Wheatstone in the past 12 months," he said.

In a separate report for analysts, Chevron said it sees a 2014 start-up date for Gorgon. The company had earlier said start-up was still to be determined.
In the US Gulf of Mexico, Chevron has begun front-end engineering and design for a 120,000-150,000 boe/d production facility for the Jack and St Malo discoveries, Kirkland said.