Japan's Inpex has been awarded an exploration permit for Release Area WA-532-P, close to its Ichthys LNG development, in Australia’s 2016 ƶijϻ Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release.
Inpex Browse will hold a 100% participating interest in the block, off the coast of Western Australia covering 26,300sq km in 60-250m water depth.
Exploration in the area will help add value to the Ichthys project. Inpex now has 18 permits in the vicinity of the Ichthys gas-condensate field.
The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce up to 8.9 MTPA of LNG and 1.65 million-tonne of LPG per annum, along with approximately 100,000 b/d of condensate at peak.
In September, the Ichthys LNG project’s floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO) was moored in the Ichthys field, 220km off the north coast of Western Australia.
The FPSO joins the Ichthys LNG Project’s Central Processing Facility (CPF), the Ichthys Explorer, the world’s largest semisubmersible platform, which was safely moored in the Ichthys field in late-May.
