Japanese operator Inpex has announced a further delay in its Ichthys LNG project off Western Australia, pushing back the on-stream date by at least 2 months.
The company had set a deadline of Mar. 30 to begin production from the $37-billion development which, in turn, was a 6-month delay of a previous schedule.
Inpex now expects to complete commissioning of the central processing facility near the field offshore Kimberley and bring the gas on stream between April and May.
This will be followed by production and shipment of condensate via the giant Ichthys Venturer floating production, storage, and offloading vessel at the field and then LNG and LPG in sequence from the Darwin liquefaction plant.
Inpex said commissioning of the first LNG production train has been completed, as has the FPSO and subsea production systems.
The company hopes to hold to the new timetable but concedes the activity schedule may fluctuate depending on weather conditions at the numerous worksites, along with preparation activities and other factors.
