Inpex Commissions Ichthys' Processing Facility

Japan’s Inpex Corporation announced May 31 that it has completed the commissioning of Ichthys LNG project’s central processing facility (Ichthys Explorer), required for start-up. Inpex operates the project offshore Western Australia.

“This milestone marks the completion of the necessary commissioning of all key onshore and offshore facilities for production start-up. The project is scheduled to commence production of gas from the wellhead upon conducting final safety verifications, and will thereafter proceed with the shipment of cargoes towards the end of the first half of the current fiscal year,” Inpex said.

The Inpex-operated project was due to have started up 2016 but its development has overrun and its cost has almost certainly topped the original $34bn price tag. Inpex has a 62.2% stake in the project while French Total has 30% interest. The rest is owned by Taiwan’s CPC Corporation and five Japanese utilities.