INPEX to boost Ichthys LNG production capacity to 9.3 mil mt/year by 2024

INPEX, Japan's largest upstream company, plans to boost LNG production capacity at the Ichthys project it operates in Australia by 4% to 9.3 million mt/year by 2024, the company said Feb. 9, adding it was to significantly increase capital expenditure on the plant's revamp and exploring blocks.

The Ichthys LNG production capacity will increase from 8.9 million mt/year by building a framework capable of producing 9.3 million mt/year of LNG from debottlenecking the facility as well as increasing upstream gas production from surrounding blocks, a company spokesperson said.

In order to boost production capacity, INPEX plans to raise its expenditure on development and other costs to Yen 404 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2022 from Yen 183.6 billion in 2021, and also raise its 2022 exploration expenditure to Yen 43 billion, up nearly six-fold from Yen 7.4 billion a year ago.

The INPEX company spokesperson attributed the increase in the development expenditure to investments related to the Ichthys downstream plant and the increased exploration expenditure to exploration activities around the Ichthys gas fields, the Block 10 in Iraq and domestic exploration works offshore Shimane and Yamaguchi prefectures in the western Japan.

Looking further ahead, INPEX said it aimed to further increase production volume from exploring the Ichthys gas fields and surrounding blocks with a view to expanding the Ichthys onshore production plant around 2030.

The project, operated by INPEX, involves piping gas from the offshore Ichthys field in the Browse Basin in northwestern Australia over 890 km (5502 miles) to the onshore 8.9 million mt/year LNG plant near Darwin. At peak, it has capacity to produce 1.65 million mt/year of LPG and 100,000 b/d of condensate.

With its 66.245% stake in the Ichthys project, INPEX has the right to lift 900,000 mt/year of Ichthys LNG, a majority of which it receives at its Naoetsu LNG import terminal in northwestern Japan for its pipeline gas supply.

For 2022, INPEX plans to keep its LNG and condensate shipments from Ichthys at a similar level to 2021, shipping around 120 LNG cargoes, 36 offshore condensate cargoes and up to 24 plant condensate cargoes and up to 36 LPG cargoes, the spokesperson said.

The Ichthys project is set to have scheduled maintenance programs at its two LNG trains from July 1 to Aug. 5, 2022.

In 2021, the project shipped 117 LNG cargoes, 21 plant condensate cargoes, 32 offshore condensate cargoes and 32 LPG cargoes, the spokesperson said.

INPEX plans to produce a record high 607,800 b/d of oil equivalent in 2022, up 4% from 2021 due to the continuous raising of the OPEC+ output cap, coupled with its acquisition of stakes in the Snorre oil field in Norway, the spokesperson said.