Two of America’s leading energy companies chose the same week, the same city, and virtually the same stage to make the same bet: that the world’s demand for liquefied natural gas will continue to increase, disruptions and all. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation (NYSE:XOM) both used the Gastech conference in Bangkok to lay out increased LNG goals, with long-term demand growth underpinning their ambitions as heightened energy-security concerns push buyers to reconsider how, and from whom, they acquire their gas.
Chevron’s Four-Continent Push
Freeman Shaheen, Chevron’s President of Global Gas, told Reuters that the company is looking at expansion potential on four continents: Argentina, the eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and Australia. The company will have approximately 20 million metric tons of LNG supply capacity, split between 16 million tons of net production from its own projects and 4 million tons contracted from the US Gulf Coast, a deal that began ramping up in February. Shaheen singled out Argentina and the East Mediterranean as particularly attractive, while Australia and Africa remain viable choices if the capital, fiscal, and regulatory conditions align. He provided limited detail on specific expansion projects, particularly in Australia and Africa. Notably, Chevron’s gas ambitions will compete for capital with other objectives in its portfolio, including the more than $7 billion that the company and its partners intend to invest in Venezuela to more than double oil output by 2031.
ExxonMobil’s Larger, More Concentrated Bet
ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation (NYSE:XOM) also made an announcement at the same conference, virtually on the same day. ExxonMobil’s senior vice president for LNG, Peter Clarke, told Bloomberg that the company is upping its 2030 LNG sales forecast to approximately 50 million tons per year, up from a previous aim of 40 million tons. That is a significantly larger absolute figure than Chevron’s roughly 20-million-ton supply portfolio, reflecting Exxon’s larger existing LNG footprint, which includes the Golden Pass export terminal in Texas, and additional projects in Papua New Guinea and Mozambique. Clarke’s wording was nearly identical to Chevron’s: steady long-term demand growth, mainly in Asia, which he suggested justified lifting the target even as the Middle East turmoil forces certain countries to reevaluate their overall reliance on the fuel.
Where the Two Companies Overlap
The overlap extends to Australia, where Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) already operates one of the country’s largest LNG project, Gorgon, alongside Wheatstone, with the majority of the supply going to Japan. The continent actually illustrates how intertwined the two companies’ LNG exposure can be. Chevron operates Gorgon with a 47.3% stake, while ExxonMobil owns 25% of the same project. That makes the companies partners in one of Australia’s largest LNG developments even as they compete for LNG customers and growth opportunities elsewhere.
