TOKYO - Tokyo Electric Power Co will invest more than 300 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in acquiring a stake in liquefied natural gas development in Australia, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

Japan's top utility firm on Saturday said it has signed a Heads of Agreement with U.S. major Chevron to procure 4.1 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas from Australia's Wheatstone project.

Under the agreement, TEPCO will acquire 15 percent of Chevron's equity stake in Wheatstone field license and an 11.25 percent stake in Wheatstone gas processing facility.

The report mentioned a specific amount of investment, which was not presented by us but based on (Nikkei's) own calculation, TEPCO said in a statement. We don't have anything that can be shown at the moment.

TEPCO intends to buy 3.1 million tonnes per year of LNG from the project from Chevron for up to 20 years, and it is expected to be entitled to an additional 1 million tonnes per year based on its equity stake. Chevron plans to ship first gas from the project as early as 2016. ($1=90.51 YEN) (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Australia Japan Energy