Chevron Corporation today announced that its main Chinese subsidiary has signed a 30-year production-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for the joint development of the Chuandongbei natural gas area in central China. Chevron will take over the role of operator and hold a 49 percent participating interest and CNPC will hold a 51 percent interest in the project.

"The signing of this contract demonstrates our worldwide focus on large-scale exploration and production projects, and our long-term strategy to grow our business in China," said Dave O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation, during a signing ceremony in Beijing. "Chevron is pleased to bring our technological expertise and strong emphasis on safety, efficiency and reliability to develop the Chuandongbei gas project in partnership with CNPC."

Added Isikeli Taureka, Chevron's country manager for China: "This partnership is a milestone for future cooperation between CNPC and Chevron. We look forward to working with CNPC to find solutions to meet China's rapidly growing demand for energy. We also plan to undertake a multiphase work program with CNPC's subsidiary PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company to evaluate additional reserves in the contract area and commence front end engineering and design work."

The Chuandongbei gas development area covers nearly 2,000 square kilometers in the Sichuan province. Chuandongbei, which includes the Tieshanpo, Dukouhe-Qilibei and Luojiazhai gas fields, has an estimated resource base of 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Design capacity at the proposed gas plants is expected to be 740 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.