Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Co said it had found deepwater natural gas deposits off the coast of Western Australia, putting in a new potential to the company's Clio development.

The discovery well tagged as Clio-3, situated about 150 kilometers north and west of Onslow, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, penetrated a net gas payload of 79 meters at 4.3 kilometers depth, Chevron said in an official statement on Wednesday.

Jim Blackwell, Chevron Asia Pacific's president, said that the region would play a major role in the energy firm's long term plans.

"Western Australia will play a key role in our long-term plans to build a leading natural gas business to supply energy safely and reliably to Australia and the Asia-Pacific," he said.

Chevron expects that this find would support the expansion of the company's gas project at Wheatstone.

"We expect this discovery, together with our previous discoveries in this permit area, to underpin expansion opportunities at the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas hub," Mr. Blackwell adds.

Chevron's Wheatstone natural gas project is projected to start production five to six years from now, by 2016.

The energy firm said that they were still conducting some tests on the gas well and had not yet ascertained the well's commercial viability.