Regional LNG: Inpex: Ichthys LNG Project celebrates CPF sail away

By Romel S. Gurky

Inpex Corporation announced Friday that the Ichthys Explorer, the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project?s central processing facility (CPF), sailed away from its construction site in Geoje, South Korea en route to the Ichthys Field offshore Western Australia, following the completion of shipyard commissioning and preparation work.

Inpex said in a statement the Ichthys Explorer will be towed to the Ichthys Field over a period of approximately one and a half months, after which it is scheduled to undergo hook-up. The facility will then separate and process the produce lifted from subsea production wells into gases and liquids over 40 years of continuous operation.

The Ichthys Venturer, the Project?s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, is also scheduled to be towed to the Ichthys Field and undergo hook-up. INPEX and its partners will also continue to proceed with construction work on the onshore natural gas liquefaction plant outside of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Following the arrival of the CPF (Ichthys Explorer) and the FPSO (Ichthys Venturer), installation and commissioning work will be undertaken and production from the wellhead will commence. Thereafter, the Ichthys LNG Project will, during the current fiscal year (ending March 31, 2018), begin production of condensate, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in sequence and then ship these products.

Inpex said it will continue to work toward the success of the Project with the understanding and cooperation of all its stakeholders, including its joint venture partners, the local communities, the Australian federal government and the governments of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak