The Inpex Corp.-led consortium at Ichthys gas-condensate field in the Browse basin 220 km offshore Western Australia has started natural gas production from its subsea wells to the massive 120,000-tonne Ichthys Explorer production platform.
LNG from the project’s onshore Darwin plant in the Northern Territory is expected by the end of September.
Inpex said the start-up marks the beginning of what is expected to be a 40-year life for the $40-billion project.
Gas from the wells will be processed on the platform. Condensate will then be piped to the Ichthys Venturer floating production, storage, and offloading vessel moored nearby, while dry gas will be piped nearly 900 km by subsea pipeline to the Darwin LNG facilities.
The project expects its initial cargo of condensate to be shipped first and then LNG and LPG during September.
It will take 2-3 years to reach full production of 8.9 million tonnes/year along with 1.7 million tonnes of LPG and 100,000 b/d of condensate.
The start-up of gas production is about 18 months after the original expected on-stream date of yearend 2016. The project reached final investment decision in 2012.
Inpex has 62.245% interest in the project, Total 30%, CPC Corp. 2.625%, Tokyo Gas 1.575%, Osaka Gas 1.2%, Kansai Electric 1.2%, JERA 0.735%, and Toho Gas 0.42%.
