First Ichthys Condensate Shipped from Darwin Terminal

The first batch of condensate produced at the onshore gas liquefaction plant of the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project has been shipped. The condensate was loaded from the gas liquefaction plant in Darwin, Australia, on the tanker Challenge Peak, which departed for Asia on December 26.

Inpex officially opened the Ichthys LNG onshore facilities in November 2018, and the first LNG shipment departed the facility in October. The onshore facilities include two LNG processing trains, LPG and condensate plants, product storage tanks and a combined cycle power plant.

The first shipment of condensate from the project's FPSO, the Ichthys Venturer, departed in October. The Ichthys Venturer is moored in the Browse Basin, some 220 kilometers (136 miles) off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

Ichthys is expected to be in operation for 40 years. It represents the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia in 40 years. 

The produced gas is gathered within the Central Processing Facility, Ichthys Explorer, where it is separated into gases and liquids. Thereafter, the liquids are piped to the nearby FPSO Ichthys Venturer while the gases is transported via the 890-kilometer long gas export pipeline to the onshore gas liquefaction plant at Darwin.

Approximately 70 percent of the LNG produced by Ichthys LNG is scheduled to be supplied to Japanese customers. Ichthys is scheduled to gradually increase its production volume of LNG to approximately 8.9 million tons of LNG per year when it reaches its production plateau – this is equivalent to more than 10 percent of Japan’s annual LNG import volume. 

At peak, the Ichthys LNG Project is also expected to produce up to 1.65 million tons of LPG per annum and up to 100,000 barrels of condensate per day.