Inpex: Ichthys LNG production remained stable in H1

Inpex said on Thursday in its financial report that the project “conducted stable production operations overall.”

Besides the 66 LNG cargoes, the Ichthys project also sent 12 plant condensate cargoes, 16 offshore condensate cargoes, and 17 LPG cargoes during the first half of this year.

This compares to 65 LNG cargoes, 11 plant condensate cargoes, 15 offshore condensate cargoes, and 17 LPG cargoes during the first half of 2023.

Inpex also provided shipment data for July, and the Ichthys project sent 10 LNG cargoes, 2 plant condensate cargoes, 2 offshore condensate cargoes, and 3 LPG cargoes during the last month.

Last year, the LNG plant shipped record 129 LNG cargoes, 17 cargoes more compared to 2022, as part of the company’s plans to boost production to about 9.3 mtpa due to debottlenecking.

“We have confirmed the enhancement of the facility’s capacity required to produce 9.3 million tons of LNG per year, and will aim to achieve this production volume going forward,” a spokesman for Inpex previously told LNG Prime.

The plant shipped 11 LNG cargoes in 2018, 104 LNG cargoes in 2019, 122 LNG cargoes in 2020, 117 LNG cargoes in 2021, and 112 LNG cargoes in 2022.

Production rate at one train “largely back on track”

The facility at Bladin Point near Darwin has two trains and a nameplate capacity of 8.9 mtpa.

Inpex confirmed recent reports that one train was shut down last month.

“The train restarted operations following a production loss event in July,” Inpex said.

Inpex said the production rate is “largely back on track.”

LNG Prime contacted Inpex to comment whether this production loss would affect this year’s target for cargoes.

“We expect Ichthys LNG to ship about 10 LNG cargoes per month for the second half of this year,” the Inpex spokesman said.

This means that Inpex expects to ship about 126 cargoes this year, three less compared to 129 cargoes in 2023.

Ichthys LNG is a joint venture between operator Inpex and major partner TotalEnergies.

Earlier this year, Inpex also purchased a small stake in Ichthys LNG from compatriot Tokyo Gas to boost its stake from 66.245 percent to 67.82 percent.

Besides TotalEnergies, other partners in the Ichthys project include Australian units of CPC, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Jera, and Toho Gas.

Natural gas arrives to the LNG plant at Bladin Point from the giant Ichthys field offshore Western Australia via an 890 kilometers long export pipeline.

Inpex sent last year the 500th cargo of LNG from its Ichthys terminal since the start of operations in 2018.