The Ichthys natural gas field is located in the Browse Basin, around 220 kilometres off the north west coast of Western Australia. Ranked one of the most significant oil and gas projects in the world, the field consists of a central processing facility (CPF), and interlinked floating production, storage and off-take facility (FPSO).
Gas from the field undergoes preliminary processing at the CPF to remove water and raw liquids, before being condensed and pumped to the FPSO. The gas and condensate are then exported to onshore facilities near and around Darwin via an 890 kilometre pipeline, or transferred to off-take tankers for overseas export.
The EP will allow these operations to continue for next five years and for new equipment and infrastructure to be installed in the facility. INPEX has already scheduled maintenance for the 2022-23 period. This will involve installing an inline pigging tool to assess the internal wall of the GEP, which is expected to take at least seven days.
Although the EP has been approved, inspection and maintenance repair activities may be required to ensure the project continues to operate safely.
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