Regional LNG: INPEX plans $6b Australian LNG project

Japanese oil firm INPEX Holdings Inc. said on Monday it planned to invest $5 billion to $6 billion to develop an LNG plant off the northwest coast of Australia to meet rising demand, agency reported

INPEX aims to start producing the gas in 2012 after seeking an environmental examination by the Australian government this month, a company spokesman said. It plans to produce 5-6 million tonnes of LNG a year to be exported to Japan.

Japan is the top LNG importer, absorbing about half the global supply of the clean fuel each year. LNG is gas that has been supercooled into liquid form for transport by tanker. A single shipment can deliver enough gas to supply a city the size of London for a week.

INPEX had said in the past it was considering a number of development schemes for its 100-percent-owned Ichthys discovery in the Browse Basin, Australia, including LNG exports.

The company is also planning a 3- to 5-million-tonne-per-year LNG export project for its Masela gas discovery in Indonesia, starting in 2010.(*)