Report: first Ichthys LNG cargo expected this week

Japan’s Inpex is reportedly set to load the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from its giant Ichthys project in Australia this week.

The LNG vessel Pacific Breeze was located close to the Ichthys LNG terminal near Darwin with a departure date of October 17, according to Reuters.

After the first shipment, three LNG cargoes are scheduled to load next month, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing unnamed sources.

The commissioning LNG cargo from Ichthys may be exported to Inpex’s Naoetsu LNG receiving terminal in Japan, the report said.

Ichthys has seen multiple delays and cost overruns of billions of dollars due to technical difficulties at the Ichthys project.

To remind, the $40 billion LNG export project recently shipped its first condensate cargo.

The cargo departed from the project’s offshore floating production, storage and offloading facility, the Ichthys Venturer, moored in the Browse Basin, some 220 kilometers off the northwest coast of Western Australia, on Monday, October 1.

At peak, the Ichthys project is expected to produce up to 8.9 million tonnes of LNG per annum, 1.65 million tonnes of LPG per annum and up to 100,000 barrels of condensate per day.

The project is a joint venture between Inpex, major partner Total, Taiwan’s CPC Corporation and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.