LNG

Inpex Corp., the leading Japanese liquefied natural gas developer and operator in the Asia-Pacific region, is focusing on re-assuring shareholders and the public in Japan on the company’s safety and security by organising facility tours of the Naoetsu LNG Terminal in Joetsu City in Niigata Prefecture.

Venture Global LNG, the US operator of the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana and developer of three other plants in the US Gulf Coast state, has signed a sales and purchase agreement with a key Singapore-based Japanese trading firm.

Tokyo Gas, the second-largest Japanese LNG importer, has agreed to sell stakes held in four out of five LNG export projects in Australia, to the US-based private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners.

JGC Holdings Corp., the leading Japanese LNG and energy engineering company, posted an annual loss mainly because of impairments relating to the Ichthys LNG export project near Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, though is upbeat on the coming LNG boom.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese operator of the Ichthys LNG export plant in northern Australia and a shareholder in a liquefaction project in Indonesia, said it had discovered multiple conventional oil, condensate and natural gas columns at onshore Block 4 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

JGC Corp said a lawsuit has been filed against it and engineering partners, Chiyoda Corp. and KBR of the US, in the Yokohama District Court by the Ichthys LNG project in Australia, led by Japan’s Inpex Corp., claiming around A$758 million (US$595M) in a long-running dispute.

JGC had formed a joint venture company with Chiyoda and KBR, called JKC Australia, and was awarded a project for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services of the onshore LNG plant at Bladin Point near Darwin in the Northern Territory in 2012 by Ichthys LNG, led by Inpex.

“All plant facilities were completed and delivered,” explained JGC.

“However, in the course of the execution of the project, sub-contractors requested additional payments to cover their increased costs,” it added.

JGC said that a funding deed for the sum of A$757.7M was agreed and payment was made by the Plaintiff (Ichthys LNG-Inpex) to the EPC joint venture for the additional costs.

Subsequently, a dispute concerning the settlement of the additional costs arose, and an arbitration process was conducted in Singapore.

Analysts said that the Yokohama court showdown follows on from the failed arbitration and previous legal cases.

During the course of the arbitration, the Plaintiff (Ichthys LNG-Inpex) demanded that the joint venture returns the full amount of the funds by the end of December 2020, but the JGC, KBR, Chiyoda joint venture refused on the grounds that the correct settlement procedures under the signed deed had not been followed and the arbitration award to determine this had not been made.

Having considered this, the Ichthys LNG-Inpex delivered a letter to the joint venture in January 2021.

The letter requested that the JGC, KBR and Chiyoda venture repay the full amount to the Plaintiff.

However, the EPC joint venture declined the request. The liability share of the partners in the venture are JGC 40 percent, KBR 30 percent and Chiyoda 30 percent.

In the lawsuit just filed in Yokohama by the Plaintiff seeks “subrogation” against the EPC firms for the full amount of the funds provided by the Plaintiff, plus legal costs.

JGC said it was examining the details of this lawsuit and would take appropriate action.

Saipem, the company currently working on the major global LNG project, said it received a contract to conduct booster compression module front-end engineering and design services for the Australian Ichthys LNG export plant operated by Japan’s Inpex Corp.

The Italian company said it planned to install the BCM onto the “Ichthys Explorer” central processing facility.

The scope of work comprises the BCM front-end engineering and includes the option to provide a lump-sum price to execute the full engineering, procurement and construction scope from detailed design through to fabrication and load out.

Inpex is operator of the onshore Ichthys plant at Bladin Point near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The Australian Ichthys plant came on stream in 2018 and produces almost 9 million tonnes per annum of LNG from two processing Trains, while the Ichthys gas field is offshore northwest Australia and connected to the plant by a 890-kilometre subsea pipeline to Bladin Point.

Shares in Ichthys LNG held by Inpex amount to around 66 percent of equity, while French major Total has 26 percent.

Micro-stakes are additionally held by customers CPC Corp. of Taiwan and Japan’s main utilities and LNG buyers, JERA Co. Inc., Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric and Toho Gas.

“This contract furthers our presence in this strategic market,” said Gianalberto Secchi, Saipem Offshore Area Manager for the North Pacific-East Indian Ocean region.

Saipem has an impressive amount of work in its LNG project portfolio, especially on the subsea side and is currently involved in Mozambique LNG in southeast Africa in addition to other ventures.

Saipem is also involved with TechnipFMC, the Franco-US energy and LNG engineering company, in the Arctic LNG II venture being development by Russian natural gas company Novatek and its partners.

The Italian firm has additionally been retained for the engineering contract on the new seventh Train and debottlenecking project for Nigeria LNG.

That joint venture comprises Saipem, Chiyoda Corp. of Japan and Daewoo Engineering of South Korea.

Japanese companies JGC Corp. and Chiyoda Corp. and US engineer KBR who built the onshore Ichthys liquefaction and export plant at Bladin Point near Darwin in Australia, have lost a Court of Appeal case for a US$1.9 billion claim against a power station sub-contractor.

Inpex Corp., the largest Japanese exploration and production company and an Australian LNG plant operator, said it concluded a loan refinancing agreement for a portion of the loans taken out to develop the Ichthys facility near Darwin.

The company said the refinancing arrangements covered project finance loans arranged in 2012 with export credit agencies (ECAs) and commercial banks.

Total project finance loans for the Ichthys project amounted to approximately US$15.6 billion, of which the new refinanced amount covered in the latest agreement is US$8.3Bln.

The agreement involves seven ECAs and 28 commercial banks.

Inpex said the agreement includes loan conversions and improved borrowing conditions.

“The loan refinancing agreement is the result of a refinancing bid formally issued by Inpex in March 2020 with the objective of improving borrowing conditions, based on the Project achieving financial completion in December 2019 and continuing to sustain stable production operations,” explained the Japanese company.

Inpex is operator of the Ichthys plant at Bladin Point near Darwin and is also developing the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia with Royal Dutch Shell.

The plant came on stream in 2018 and produces almost 9 million tonnes per annum of LNG from two processing Trains.

Shares in Ichthys LNG held by Inpex amount to around 66 percent of equity, while French major Total has 26 percent.

Micro-stakes are held by CPC Corp. of Taiwan and Japan’s main utilities and LNG buyers, JERA Co. Inc., Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric and Toho Gas.

“The project’s smooth progress despite the impact of the decline in oil prices caused by the spread of Covid-19 and other factors was evaluated favorably,” stated Inpex.

“Accordingly, Inpex received commitments from financial institutions exceeding the amount expressed in the refinancing bid,” it added.

Inpex said it believed that the refinancing agreement would enhance the value of the Ichthys project by reducing the financial commitments.

“Furthermore, the agreement is part of INPEX’s cost reduction initiatives under the company’s basic policy in response to the decline in oil prices and is expected to contribute to improving the resilience of the Inpex Group’s business structure,” it explained.

“Inpex will continue to lead efforts to sustain stable operations at the project with the understanding and cooperation of all its stakeholders,” said the company.

“These include the project’s joint venture participants, the local communities, the Australian federal government and the governments of the Northern Territory and Western Australia,” it stated.

Oct 28 (LNG) - Japanese energy company Inpex Corp., a stakeholder in various LNG export projects such as the Ichthys venture at Bladin Point near Darwin and Prelude FLNG offshore northwest Australia, said it was introducing a shareholder benefit programme and would also be starting facility tours for shareholders, the first one being to an LNG import terminal in Japan.

   Owners of 400 shares to 800 shares would be eligible for up to 3,000 yen ($27.50) put on a pre-paid Japanese Quo card that can be used at restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, book stores and hotels. Owners of 800 shares or more would be eligible for up to 5,000 yen on the Quo card.

   As regards the first facility tour, Inpex said this would be to the Naoetsu LNG Terminal in the city of Joetsu in Nigata Prefecture, as well as other sites in May 2020. “Shareholders will be selected by lot from among those holding at least 100 shares in Inpex as of December 31 each year and who apply to attend the tours,” said the company.