Inpex fanfare: in Western Australia
- Browse slow going
- Inpex makes waves off Australia
- Total in the swim off WA
- Inpex and Total in Ichthys switch
- Aussie gas on a slow burner
- Voelte shoots down Oz LNG hopes
- Inpex finishes up well appraisals for Abadi LNGproject
- LNGgrowth will be hot topic in Bangkok
- LNG facility in Darwin on Inpex radar
- Inpex pushes back Ichthys date
Reserves snowball at Ichthys LNG
Japanese explorer Inpex Holdings has raised the reserves estimates for its Ichthys liquefied natural gas project off Western Australia, the Australian government said.
Reserves for the Ichthys field, in the Browse basin, now stand at 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas and 527 million barrels of condensate, Australian Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson, said in a statement issued late yesterday.
"At 527 million barrels, this is the largest liquid hydrocarbon accumulation found in Australia since the Bass Strait in the 1960s," Ferguson said.
Inpex has previously forecast proven and probable reserves at Ichthys at 9.5 Tcf of recoverable gas and 312 million barrels of condensate.
Inpex and project partner Total of France are obtaining environmental approvals to build a LNG plant for Ichthys gas either in the Maret Islands in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, or on Middle Arm in Darwin in the Northern Territory.
Initial LNG output of the project is set to top 8 million tonnes per year, in addition to 1.6 million tonnes per year of liquefied petroleum gas and up to 100,000 barrels per day of condensate.
First LNG output has been delayed to 2014, from an original target at the end of 2012, Inpex said earlier this month.
Inpex has a 76% stake in the field, while Total owns the rest, reported Reuters.