Gas Production Starts at Ichthys

The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project has commenced production of gas, marking the start of approximately 40 years of operations for this large-scale Australian LNG development.

Located about 220 kilometers (140 miles) offshore Western Australia, Ichthys represents the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia in 40 years. The $40 billion project will produce approximately 8.9 million tons of LNG and approximately 1.65 million tons of LPG per year, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak. 

The produced gas will be gathered within the Central Processing Facility, Ichthys Explorer, where it will be separated into gases and liquids. Thereafter, the liquids will be piped to the nearby FPSO Ichthys Venturer while the gases will be transported via the 890-kilometer long Gas Export Pipeline to the onshore gas liquefaction plant at Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

At the FPSO, the condensate contained in the well fluids will be processed to remove water and other impurities, then stored in tanks prior to export by tankers. At the onshore gas liquefaction plant, gases will be processed to remove impurities after which any remaining condensate will be extracted. The gases will then be separated and liquefied to produce LPG and LNG to be stored in tanks and shipped in sequence.

Ichthys condensate will be the third condensate introduced to the Asian market this year after that of Australia's Wheatstone and Malaysia's Bergading.

The Ichthys LNG Project is a partnership between Inpex (operator, participating interest: 62.245 percent), Total (participating interest: 30 percent) and the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corporation, Taiwan (participating interest: 2.625 percent), Tokyo Gas (participating interest: 1.575 percent), Osaka Gas (participating interest: 1.2 percent), Kansai Electric Power (participating interest: 1.2 percent), JERA (participating interest: 0.735 percent) and Toho Gas (participating interest: 0.42 percent).