Japan’s Jera gets first Barossa LNG cargo at Futtsu terminal

Jera announced the arrival of the first Barossa LNG cargo in a statement on Friday, marking the start of LNG deliveries from the Barossa project to Jera and supporting Japan’s stable supply.

The 2019-built 177,269-cbm LNG carrier Sohshu Maru, owned by MOL and Jera, delivered the shipment on Friday.

In January, Santos shipped the first Darwin LNG cargo produced from the Barossa gas field to Japan.

However, Santos temporarily shut down the project in March. The company said in April that it expects the Barossa floating storage and offloading facility (FPSO) to start ramping up production, with LNG production at the Darwin plant following thereafter.

Santos is the operator and has a 50 percent interest in the Barossa gas project, with joint venture partners PRISM Energy International Australia (37.5 percent) and JERA Australia (12.5 percent).

The project’s annual LNG production capacity is approximately 3.4 million tonnes.

Jera will offtake approximately 425,000 tonnes of LNG per year in line with its equity share.

The Japanese firm said that Australian LNG “continues to be an important component of Jera’s increasingly diversified global procurement portfolio.”

“The Barossa gas project is one of the company’s biggest investments in Australia, in addition to the long-standing interest in the Wheatstone LNG project and major new investment in the Scarborough gas field development – expected to start production later this year,” Jera said.

Jera added it will continue to build resilience across its “strong” and diversified LNG portfolio, by balancing supply from the Asia‑Pacific region, the Middle East, the United States, and other sources.