Osaka Gas Look to Build LNG Interests

Osaka Gas of Japan is negotiating with Inpex Corp for a possible stake in the Ichthys liquefied natural gas project.

"We're in talks to firm up a set of deals involving a combination of an equity stake and LNG purchase" said Osaka Gas overseas business development executive officer Kenji Kawamoto.

The development comes in the wake of Inpex, Japan's top oil and gas explorer, announcing last month its intention to sell stakes in the project off Australia’s North West coast to companies that buy LNG from the field.

Referring to Woodside Petroleum's Sunrise LNG project in East Timor, a final investment decision, he said, would be made sometime around 2013-14 as the company is yet to clear a number of hurdles including securing the nod from the government of East Timor.

The company which controls 10% stake in the project, plans to deploy a floating vessel for processing.

It already announced last week that it would build by 2015 the world's largest LNG tank with capacity of 230,000 cubic metres, replacing two tanks of 45,000 cubic metres each.

However, the company has no immediate plans of hiking its stake in Chevron's Gorgon project in Australia as it has already contracted to lift 1.375 million tonnes of LNG pr year from the field, beginning 2014.

Osaka Gas which has spent half of its five-year budget of 170 billion yen ($2.2 billion) planned till March 2014 in overseas energy development and downstream infrastructure business, hopes to invest the balance in shale gas projects in North America and oil projects in Europe, Kawamoto added.