* Wheatstone had been due to start shipping in mid-2017
* First cargo expected in "coming weeks"
* Wheatstone LNG will produce 8.9 mtpa at full capacity (Adds background)
MELBOURNE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) CVX.N said on Monday it has started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Wheatstone project in Australia, slightly later than expected, and plans to ship its first cargo soon.
All eyes in the LNG market will be on how smoothly Wheatstone progresses following the troubled start-up at Chevron's bigger Gorgon LNG project. Both projects are off the state of Western Australia.
Wheatstone is one of three remaining projects in a $200 billion Australian LNG construction boom that is in its final stretch, putting the country on course to overtake Qatar as the world's largest LNG exporter in the next three years.
Wheatstone, co-owned by Australia's Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX , Kuwait Foreign Exploration Co (KUFPEC) and Japan's Kyushu Electric Power Co 9508.T , has two units, which at full capacity will supply 8.9 million metric tonnes of LNG a year to customers in Asia.
"The first cargo is on track to be shipped in the coming weeks," Chevron Corp said in a statement. It had originally hoped to start exporting from Wheatstone in mid-2017.
The company expects the second unit to start producing six to eight months after the first.