Inpex may look for Masela LNG plant expansion

By Alexander Ginting

Japan energy giant Inpex Corporation, the operator of gas-rich Masela block in the Arafura Sea south of Papua, said on Thursday the capacity of planned floating LNG plant at the block could be raised to 10 million tons of LNG a year.

Shunchiro Sugaya, Senior Vice President of Masela Project and Director of Inpex, told an LNG forum in Bali that the first phase of development, under which the LNG plant will have the capacity of 2.5 million tons a year, would only utilize about 20 percent of the block?s reserves.

?The Masela LNG plant project can therefore be expanded to up to 10 million tons a year,? said Sugaya, adding that the reserves are more than enough for exploitation of well over 30 years.

According to upstream authority BPMIGAS estimates, the Masela block has a total gas reserve of 6.05 trillion cubic feet. Last year, Inpex received an approval from the government to build a floating LNG train to process gas from the Masela block. About $5 billion will be spent to build first LNG train for the company?s gas production at the Masela block.

The construction of the train with a capacity of 2.5 million tons a year is scheduled for completion in 2017.

Editing by Dadan Wijaksana