Ichthys
INPEX created a venture company called INPEX Browse, Ltd on 1 September 1998. This was for a previously wholly owned INPEX project in the offshore Basin off the north west coast of Western Australia where a gas-field was discovered in the WA-285-P permit area. The official name of the proposed development project was to be the Ichthys (gas-field) Development, which the company wanted to base on the Maret Islands. After farming out 24% of the permit ownership to Total S.A.'s subsidiary Total E&P Australia the concept and location was changed.
The location of this project, and the issue of industrialising the Kimberley coast was under discussion in Australia at the time. Environmentalists and local ecotourism operators ware concerned about industrial infrastructure destroying the pristine nature of this coast line.[13]
The original project consisted of an offshore Central Processing Facilities (CPF), supplying two phase gas to an onshore facility on the Maret Islands. The facilities on the Maret Islands were to include gas receiving, LNG process plant (2 x 3.8Mtpa trains), product storage and export facilities. The Maret Islands are located approximately 200 km south-east of the Ichthys Field, which is approx. 440 km north of Broome and 800 km south west of Darwin.
The project for the LNG plant to be located on the isolated Maret Islands was scrapped with the LNG Plant now to be built at Bladin Point industrial site which is located on the Middle Arm Peninsula in Darwin, Northern Territory, with a 889 km pipeline from the lchthys Field to the LNG Plant, after regulatory delays in Western Australia.[14][15]
The Ichthys Project's Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) was completed in April 2011. Final Investment Decision (FID) was announced on 13 January 2012.
In January 2012 INPEX said the 8.4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) project near Darwin will cost about $34 billion, some 60 per cent more than INPEX's original estimate of $20 billion. INPEX said it and French energy company Total, its joint venture partner, had given the final approval to the project. Total had expressed interest in increasing its stake in the project from 24% to 30%, and negotiations between the two companies were underway.
The project was estimated to contribute $3.5 billion into the Australian economy each year, and require around 2,700 workers during peak construction, and another 300 jobs ongoing once it is operational.[16]
The EPC early works phase, such as commencement of site development, infrastructure works and accommodation village and dredging began in 2012. LNG Production in the magnitude of app. 8.4mtpa is projected to be online by fourth quarter of 2016. The first shipment from the Ichthys LNG plant was made in October 2018.[17]
Abadi
The Abadi gas field is a natural gas field located in the Arafura Sea in Tanimbar, Mollucas, Indonesia. Inpex discovered it in 2000 when the Abadi-1 exploratory well was drilled, and then developed it. This marked the first discovery of crude oil and natural gas in the Arafura Sea.
In November 2008, INPEX acquired a 100 per cent participating interest in the Masela Block in Indonesia.[18]
A development plan was submitted to the Indonesian government and subsequently approved. Preparatory measures for Front-End Engineering Design were in place in 2011.[19] In 2012, production of natural gas and condensates was expected to begin in 2015. The total proven reserves of the Abadi gas field were around 10 trillion cubic feet (242 billion m3), and production was slated to be around 974 million cubic feet/day (2.74 million m3) in 2015.[20]
In 2017 the company was ready to start the Pre FEED phase and hold a joint workshop with SKK Migas.[21]
