Wheatstone start-up and operations
(including Julimar-Brunello)

Chevron Australia Pty Ltd (Chevron Australia), on behalf of the Wheatstone Project joint venture participants, operates the Wheatstone Project (Wheatstone) in northwest Western Australia.  

Wheatstone is Australia’s first natural gas ‘hub’ — with the capability for third parties to process gas through its facilities. To date, 80 percent of the gas processed through Wheatstone’s two LNG trains has been supplied from the Chevron Australia-operated Wheatstone and Iago fields, and 20 percent has been supplied from the Woodside-owned Julimar and Brunello fields.

At the completion of an asset swap between Chevron Australia and Woodside, Woodside will transfer all of its interest in both the Wheatstone (13%) and Julimar-Brunello projects (65%) to Chevron Australia. The remaining 35% interest in Julimar-Brunello will be retained by KUFPEC.

During normal operations, hydrocarbons (gas and condensate) from the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar and Brunello fields are gathered and transported to the Wheatstone Platform (the Platform) for initial processing. Gas and condensate are then transported via a 225-kilometre (km) trunkline to the onshore Wheatstone Gas Plant (the Gas Plant) for further processing. At the Gas Plant, gas and condensate are processed for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or piped to the mainland for WA domestic gas users.

Chevron Australia is currently revising the Wheatstone Start-Up and Operations Environment Plan (the revised EP) to reflect the change in ownership of the Julimar-Brunello petroleum titles and incorporate the operation of the Julimar-Brunello field production system. While the revised EP will address this change in ownership, there will be no changes to the petroleum activities for Julimar-Brunello or Wheatstone. 

The revised EP will be submitted to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for assessment. 

This information sheet is intended to assist ‘relevant persons’ to make an informed assessment of the environmental impact and risks of our activities and to provide input and feedback to enhance the revised EP, including control measures to manage environmental impacts and risks of the activity.

Relevant persons are those whose functions, interests or activities may be affected by our activities. This includes Traditional Owners and Custodians with a spiritual and cultural connection to Country, commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, individuals or groups in local communities.

• an ecosystem and their constituent parts, including people and communities
• natural and physical resources
• the qualities and characteristics of locations, places & areas
• the heritage value of places; and
• the social, economic and cultural features of the above.

The Wheatstone Platform and subsea infrastructure normally operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Chevron Australia is expected to take ownership of the Julimar-Brunello Project from mid-2026, (subject to various conditions including acceptance of the revised EP).

Wheatstone (inclusive of the Julimar-Brunello Project) is expected to operate for at least 25 to 30 years.

The revised EP will incorporate the ongoing operation of the Julimar-Brunello Project. The routine operation of the Wheatstone and Julimar-Brunello field production systems will continue under the revised EP. 

Primary activities will remain unchanged from the in-force Julimar-Brunello and Wheatstone EPs and include: 

• Operation of the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar-Brunello wells and subsea infrastructure, and associated activities.
• Production of hydrocarbon and other produced fluids from wells via infield flowlines and pipelines to the Platform.
• Ongoing operation of the Platform.
• Periodic inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) of the hydrocarbon system, the Platform and associated subsea infrastructure.

The following infrastructure is subject to a 500 m radius petroleum safety exclusion zone:

• Wheatstone Platform
• WST-1 production manifold and wells
• WST-2 production manifold and wells
• WST-3 production manifold and wells
• IAG-1 production manifold and wells
• IAG-2 production manifold and wells

The following infrastructure is subject to a 250 m radius petroleum safety exclusion zone:

• JULA production manifold
• BRUA production manifold and cross over manifold

Approval will be sought for new petroleum safety zones for the infrastructure associated with the Julimar-Brunello Stage 3 Project (a petroleum activity being undertaken by Woodside prior to transfer of ownership of the Julimar-Brunello Project to Chevron Australia). At this stage the size of the petroleum safety exclusion zone is unknown.

No other exclusion zones will be sought for the subsea infrastructure.

As part of our environmental assessment and consultation process, Chevron Australia create an EMBA map to provide geographical context for stakeholders to determine if their functions, interests or activities may be affected by an offshore activity during operations or in an emergency scenario. There is no change to the current EMBA due to the change in ownership of the Julimar-Brunello Project.

Figure 1 shows the EMBA, which is based on a worst-case environmental scenario, which in this case is an unplanned release (oil spill) resulting from a major defect in a flowline or trunkline.

The EMBA has been defined through combining multiple simulations for the unplanned release scenario under different weather and ocean conditions. This means that in the highly unlikely event an unplanned release does occur, a geographical area much smaller than the EMBA would be affected.

The majority of the impacts or risks directly arising from planned activities would occur within close proximity of the OA.

Chevron Australia has systematic control measures to prevent and mitigate emergencies and to reduce the impact of planned activities on the environment, including ecological, social and cultural sensitivities.

Table 2 summarises the key impacts or risks and proposed control measures to manage these to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) and acceptable.

Chevron Australia acknowledges that Traditional Owners and Custodians in the northwest region of WA have expressed a cultural and spiritual connection to Sea Country. This encompasses an obligation to protect cultural values and features — including songlines, dreaming stories, and the flora and fauna connected to them. 

We are committed to ongoing engagement and consultation with relevant groups to protect these cultural values (tangible and intangible). This process will continue to inform our understanding and help facilitate the co-design of appropriate controls to avoid impacts.

Chevron Australia’s Cultural Heritage Management System (CHMS) sets out processes and procedures to manage risks to cultural heritage, and Chevron Australia’s obligations under relevant legislation including the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) and the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 (Commonwealth).

The CHMS includes governance of field surveys and monitoring, spatial data, compliance and assurance, heritage assessment, inadvertent discovery procedures, incident management, training and induction materials.

Petroleum activities in Commonwealth waters are regulated by NOPSEMA. Before petroleum activities can take place, Chevron Australia must develop an EP which will be assessed by NOPSEMA in accordance with the requirements of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023 (the Regulations).

The Regulations require us to consult with relevant persons whose functions, interests and activities may be affected by the petroleum activity.

Following consultation, we will submit the revised EP to NOPSEMA, which will:

• describe the environment in which activities are planned to take place; 
• include an assessment of environmental impacts and risks arising from the activities;
• identify control measures to manage the potential impacts and risks to levels that are ALARP and acceptable; and
• outline how Chevron Australia has engaged with relevant persons and how their feedback has been considered and addressed.

NOPSEMA will assess whether the revised EP satisfies the Regulations, including whether the environmental impacts and risks of operations will be managed so that they are ALARP and acceptable before accepting the EP.

A summary of key potential impacts and risks and proposed control measures for operational activities can be viewed in Table 2.

Please note: proposed control measures are subject to change through consultation with relevant persons and the subsequent NOPSEMA assessment process.

We are now seeking your feedback and input if you consider your functions, interests, or activities may be affected based on the information provided, including the summary of the key environmental impacts and risks identified to date in Table 2.

We encourage you to provide additional details about the environment, aspects, consequences of the activity or control measures or to ask for further information or consultation by 16 October 2025.

You can contact us with any questions, requests for information, or to provide feedback by calling tollfree on 1800 225 195 or online below.

Relevant persons may request that the information they provide be treated as confidential. Chevron Australia will make this known to NOPSEMA and it will be identified as sensitive information and not published in the EP.

The feedback we receive during consultation will be used to inform and enhance the EP before it is submitted to NOPSEMA for assessment.

We commit to keeping you informed and providing responses to any relevant person who so requests.

If you choose to provide feedback on this proposal, Chevron Australia will collect your name and contact details, in addition to your comments, for the purposes of maintaining contact with you and inclusion of your feedback in our submission to NOPSEMA. Provision of this information is purely voluntary, however if you choose not to provide it, we may not be able to contact you in the future regarding your submission.  Chevron may transfer your information to NOPSEMA, if required and if you do not identify it as sensitive, and to other Chevron affiliates including our head office based in the United States. For further information regarding how we protect your personal information, and your rights, please refer to our privacy notice.