Inpex Submits Revised Abadi LNG Plan

Japanese Inpex Corporation announced June 20 that it has submitted a revised plan of development (POD) for the Abadi LNG project to Indonesian government authorities.

The revised POD, issued via subsidiary Inpex Masela, is based on an onshore LNG development scheme with an annual LNG production capacity of 9.5mn metric tons/year. The project involves developing the Abadi gas field in the Masela Block, located in the Arafura Sea in Indonesia.

“Inpex anticipates that the revised POD will be approved at an early stage, after which the company will work in partnership with Shell toward reaching FID and ultimately commencing production, with the cooperation of the government of Indonesia,” said Shunichiro Sugaya, president of Inpex Masela.

Earlier this week, Inpex signed a heads of agreement (HOA) with Indonesian government regarding a revised plan of development (POD) for the Abadi LNG project. The revised POD incorporates the results of pre-front end engineering design (Pre-Feed) work conducted between March and October 2018.

In addition to submitting the revised POD, Inpex, in partnership with Shell filed an application to amend the PSC for the Masela Block. This amendment accommodates the additional seven years’ time allocation to the PSC term due to the time spent studying the previously proposed development scheme, it said.

The Masela block contract was signed in 1998, and Inpex as operator owns 65% share in the block while Shell owns the rest 35%.

The project is the first large-scale integrated LNG development project operated by Inpex in Indonesia. In March 2016, the country's president Joko Widodo said production facilities of the LNG project will be built onshore, instead of offshore as Inpex had proposed. As a result, the Japanese company had to review its plans.