These achievements include drilling approvals from NOPSEMA and subsequent contract awards as well as completion of its LNG facilities financing agreements.
The energy development project is a joint venture between INPEX as the operator and primary partner Total, as well as the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corporation Taiwan, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA and Toho Gas.
The Ichthys field is located about 220 km offshore Western Australia and 820 km southwest of Darwin – which is where the gas and condensate is exported via its 890 km pipeline.
In 2012, a final investment decision was made for Ichthys LNG with production commencing mid-2018. Currently, the $55 billion project can produce 8.9 million t/a at its onshore production facility, 100,000 bbl/d of condensate as its peak and 1.6 million t/a of LPG.
NOPSEMA approval
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA) approved the Ichthys LNG ‘Phase 2’ drilling campaign on 4 December 2019 after INPEX submitted its proposal in September. The campaign comprises the drilling, completion and flow back of at least 12–15 development wells as well as potential workovers and well intervention of existing and planned wells.
The drilling campaign will take place within production licence WA-50-L, located approximately 230 km northwest of the Kimberly coastline in water depths ranging from 235 to 275 m at the lowest astronomical tide.
INPEX will conduct the activities using a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) with support from anchor handling supply vessels and platform supply vessels, while personnel transfers will take place via helicopter multiple times per week.
Halliburton has been awarded seven contracts for the phase, including directional drilling, logging while drilling, surface data logging, drilling and completions fluids, cementing, liner hangings, coring and well completions services. Drilling is expected to commence in March this year and run for approximately three years.
Financial completion
On 7 December 2019, INPEX successfully completed its 90-day operational test that demonstrated the performance of its LNG facility by a continuous and cumulative production volume calculation.
By achieving no shutdowns and a production volume well exceeding the figures required by the project financing contract, INPEX and its joint venture partners are now released from completion guarantee obligations to the lenders of the project.
The timespan of the project’s first LNG shipment in October 2018 to financial completion took approximately 14 months, which is much shorter compared to the average of similar scale LNG projects. INPEX says this time-effective achievement has demonstrated how the Ichthys LNG’s production ramp-up has shown a promising progression.
Future steps
INPEX says it will continue to lead efforts to sustain stable operations at Ichthys LNG with the understanding and cooperation of all its stakeholders, including local communities, the Commonwealth Government and the Northern Territory and Western Australian governments.
Through the project, INPEX aims to contribute further to the stable supply of energy to Japan and Taiwan – with 70 per cent of the LNG produced scheduled to be supplied to Japanese customers – while simultaneously responding to energy demands across the globe.
For more information visit the INPEX website.
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