Inpex Unveils Australia LNG Facilities

Darwin, Australia, July 24 (Jiji Press)--Set to start producing liquefied natural gas in Australia shortly, Inpex Corp. <1605> unveiled related facilities to the media on Tuesday. Shown were facilities in Darwin, northern Australia, to refrigerate and liquefy natural gas sent from the Ichthys offshore field on the seabed 250 meters deep through 890-kilometer pipelines and tanks to store the LNG. The Japanese resources developer holds an interest of about 60 pct in the Ichthys project to produce 8.9 million tons of LNG a year, equivalent to 10 pct of Japan's annual LNG imports. Of the total, more than 60 pct will be purchased by Japanese firms over 15 years. Inpex plans to start shipping the Ichthys LNG in late September. Inpex had initially planned to launch production at the end of 2016. But the output start was pushed back due chiefly to delays in construction of related facilities. Hitoshi Okawa, assistant project chief, said the start will mark the first step for Inpex to be recognized as a global company. Large-scale natural gas production has recently begun in Australia, Japan's biggest import source of LNG. The Australian government expects the Oceanian country to boost LNG exports to some 77 million tons a year by 2020, catching up with the export leader, Qatar. END