The Ichthys project involves development of the Ichthys gas and condensate field offshore North West Australia and a gas transmission pipeline together with an onshore LNG plant near Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The firm said that the commissioning of the CPF, Ichthys Explorer, is a major ahead in the completion of the necessary commissioning of all key onshore and offshore facilities for production start-up of the Ichthys LNG project.

Inpex said in a statement: “The Project is scheduled to commence production of gas from the wellhead upon conducting final safety verifications, and will thereafter proceed with the shipment of cargoes towards the end of the first half of the current fiscal year.”

Said to be the world’s largest semi-submersible platform, the Ichthys Explorer is designed to allow initial processing of the natural gas and condensate from the Ichthys Field’s subsea wells, to extract condensate and water and remove impurities.

The resulting gas will be transported to Darwin via the gas export pipeline.

However, most condensate will be shipped directly to global markets from a floating production, storage and offloading facility, which will be permanently moored near the Ichthys Field in the Browse Basin.

Located on block WA-285-P in the Browse Basin, Timor Sea, Western Australia, the Ichthys field is estimated to contain 530 million barrels of condensate and 12.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It is expected to have a life more than 40 years.

Inpex operates the Ichthys LNG Project with 62.245% interest while other partners include Total with 30% stake, and the Australian subsidiaries of CPC with 2.625%, Tokyo Gas with 1.575%, Osaka Gas with 1.2%, Kansai Electric Power with 1.2%, JERA with 0.735% and Toho Gas with 0.42% stakes.

The project is expected to produce 8.9 million tons of LNG and 1.6 million tons of LPG annually as well as more than 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.