Angola 's liquefied natural gas project will start operations next year, and a first cargo of LNG will be shipped in the first quarter of next year, a Chevron Corp. (CVX) executive said Monday.

"Angola LNG is right on schedule, and we are expecting a first cargo to be shipped out in the first quarter of 2012," Ali Moshiri, Chevron's president for Africa and Latin America exploration and production told Dow Jones Newswires.

Chevron and Angolan national oil company Sonangol are building Angola 's first LNG project, which has a $9 billion price tag--the largest infrastructure investment made in Angola .

The gas used by the LNG project is a byproduct of oil production, and most of it is currently being flared; liquefying the gas would allow Angola to stop flaring it and to start getting some revenue from the commodity. The LNG can be shipped to the U.S. , Europe and Asia .

The startup of Chevron's Usan's project in Nigeria's deep water is still on schedule for next year, and the company's massive Abgami oil field, also in that country, is producing more than 250,000 barrels of oil a day. Moshiri said. New development wells the company drilled at Abgami will allow to maintain that level of production for an additional years, Moshiri said.

Africa currently represents about 17% of Chevron's company's total oil and gas production. Chevron is the second-largest U.S. oil company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).

Speaking about the company's exploration and production plans for Brazil, one of the most significant countries for Chevron in Latin America, Moshiri said the company's expects to drill one pre-salt well in the fourth quarter in Frade Field, which is currently producing about 70,000 barrels of oil a day. "We are hoping to spud the well sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011," Moshiri said.

Chevron is deciding whether or not it will participate in Brazil 's 11th-round auction of oil and natural gas exploration, which will be held in the second half of this year. The auction features some offshore blocks in the equatorial region but not in the much-ballyhooed pre-salt region.

"We are taking a look at it. We are very interested offshore Brazil and want to focus on that area, but will evaluate any opportunity in the country because Brazil is a significant part of our Latin American portfolio."

Moshiri also said Venezuela's efforts to push international companies to increase production was "understandable" and that recent windfall taxes approved by the government of President Hugo Chavez will be somehow be offset by giving companies an exception for production coming from new investment.

"Our understanding is that new investment is going to be excepted from the windfall taxes and that is a positive," Moshiri said. "It's almost like they are taking money from what you are producing but at the same time they are giving that incentive."

In an overhaul of its oil income royalties system, the Venezuelan government announced a little more than a week ago that it was raising a windfall tax on oil income to 95% of revenue when oil trades above $100 a barrel and 90% when the commodity is above $90.

The new tax, however, will not be levied on new production, according to the decree, until Venezuela 's oil partners have recovered the value of their investment. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez last week in a press conference that he didn't expect companies to be harmed by the tax. State oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA is pressuring its minority partners to raise investment and production in a bid to halt declining output. Also exempt from the tax are Venezuela 's oil treaties with China and allies around the Caribbean like Cuba .

Moshiri also said that European crude oil Brent has become a more accurate benchmark for oil markets because it better reflects the increasing demand for oil in countries such as China and India .

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