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Inpex announced on Wednesday that, through its Australian subsidiary, it has entered into a farm-in agreement with Daly Waters Energy (DWE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Formentera Partners.
Under the deal, Inpex will acquire an 11.25 percent participating interest in the First Strategic Development Area (FSDA) North and FSDA South, and a 20 percent participating interest in the Beetaloo Central Development (BCD) acreage in the Beetaloo sub-basin.
Together, this represents the acquisition of approximately 68,000 net acres across “some of the most prospective acreage” in the Beetaloo sub-basin, it said.
The farm-in agreement also includes an option for Inpex to increase its interest in the BCD to 43.75 percent, representing an additional approximately 75,000 net acres.
Inpex noted that completion of this farm-in agreement is conditional on a number of matters, including regulatory approvals.
The firm did not provide financial details.
Ichthys LNG
Further to the emergency gas supplied to NT from the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project, the company’s s investment as a non-operator in the FSDA acreage will immediately support the delivery of domestic natural gas to NT through its participation in the Shenandoah South pilot project, Inpex said.
The pilot project is on track to commence the first domestic natural gas sales to the NT government under a binding 40-terajoule-per-day gas sales agreement in the third quarter of 2026.
Inpex also said it expects to supply natural gas for processing at Ichthys LNG in Darwin, providing future backfill of the onshore natural gas liquefaction plant and potential expansion to a third LNG processing train.
The company noted that its Australian energy portfolio includes Ichthys LNG as operator, and participating interests in Prelude FLNG, Darwin LNG, Van Gogh, and Ravensworth.
Inpex shipped 112 LNG cargoes from its Ichthys export plant in Australia last year, down by four shipments compared to the year before.
The company expects to ship 120 Ichthys LNG cargoes this year.
The plant currently features two trains, but Inpex previously announced plans to build the third liquefaction train.
Inpex’s financial report last year stated that it plans to launch the third train in the first half of the 2030s.
Ichthys LNG is a joint venture between operator Inpex and major partner TotalEnergies.
Besides TotalEnergies, other partners in the Ichthys project include Australian units of CPC, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Jera, and Toho Gas.
MidOcean Energy, the LNG unit of US-based energy investor EIG, recently entered into a definitive agreement with Japan’s Jera to buy the latter’s stakes in the Gorgon and Ichthys LNG export projects in Australia.