BANGKOK: Chevron is looking to expand its global gas portfolio from Argentina to the Mediterranean to meet growing demand from buyers concerned about energy security due to the crisis in the Middle East, its Global Gas president Freeman Shaheen says.

Global gas markets have experienced two major disruptions in the past four years as the Ukraine war in 2022 and the Iran conflict this year cut off supplies from top producers Russia and Qatar, and drove liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices higher.

“What we’re seeing from this crisis is that it just reinforces the need for diversity – diversity of supply and diversity of different contracting structures,” Shaheen said.

He added: “And not leaving yourselves susceptible to a spot market that’s not really as liquid as crude and products.”

Chevron will have about 20 million tonnes per annum of LNG supply capacity comprising 16 million tonnes of net gas production from its projects and four million tonnes contracted from the US Gulf Coast that commenced in February this year and will ramp up over the next few years in line with agreements.

“We’re looking to continue to expand that portfolio,” Shaheen said in an interview on the sidelines of the Gastech conference in Bangkok.

“There’s great prospects out of Argentina with the development of crude and gas in that marketplace. The East Mediterranean is a very exciting area for us as well.”

He also sees further opportunities in Australia and Africa, provided the projects offer the right capital, fiscal and regulatory terms, adding that the US-Israeli war on Iran has reinforced the need for a diversified gas portfolio.

Shaheen did not elaborate on where in Africa, Australia or the eastern Mediterranean the company might expand.

In June, Chevron won approval to become operator and lead gas exploration in an offshore block off Greece, expanding its presence there.

These opportunities, though, have to be weighed against Venezuela, where Chevron and its partners are to invest US$7bil to more than double oil output by 2031.

“I’ve been hearing that Venezuela has a lot of capital that’s going to have to go that way coming up,” Shaheen said.

“Everything is going to get analysed in our project queue and it gets ranked.”

Chevron already has significant operations in Australia, running the country’s largest LNG project, Gorgon, and the Wheatstone project. A large portion of its Australian supply goes to Japan.

“Japan continues to be our home base, and we have nice structural opportunities into Singapore,” Shaheen said. — Reuters