Ichthys LNG Project Tad Behind Schedule

Ichthys LNG project is running slightly behind schedule, Inpex said Friday.

Inpex, which is the operator and holds the largest share in the project, however said commercial production start-up target still remains end of 2016, news agency Reuters reported.

The project was 74 percent complete as of June, four or five percentage points behind target, but the project was still on budget, Managing Executive Officer Masahiro Murayama told a news conference on its first-quarter earnings, the news agency stated.

The project has a capacity of 8.4 million tons of LNG a year. This project with 50 wells will tap the vast gas and condensate reserves that lie in 260 m of water depth in the Browse Basin, off the northwest coast of Australia. After preliminary treatment on a gigantic semi-submersible processing facility, the gas will be piped to a liquefaction plant in Darwin.

Along with Inpex, other partners in the project are Total and four major Japanese utilities.