LNG

Strike threats at Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG terminal from May 27 leave Japan most vulnerable, given its heavy reliance on contracted Australian supply. Around 70% of the LNG from the 9.3 mtpa Ichthys facility in Darwin is sold to Japanese offtakers, notably JERA, Kansai Electric, Kyushu Electric, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and Tokyo Gas.

Itochu, Osaka Gas and Toho Gas agreed to offtake e-LNG, or synthetic methane, from a plant developed by TotalEnergies and TES in Nebraska. The Japanese trio took a combined 33.3% stake in the Live Oak e-NG project and the related offtake will help the project reach FID in early 2027.

Toho Gas is developing a Cryo-DAC prototype direct air capture plant, designed to absorb one tonne of CO2 a year by using ‘cold energy’ from LNG regas terminals. The protype at Nagoya University is due completed and operational later this year.

Petronas has announced the first LNG cargo from its share in the LNG Canada project will be destined to Toho Gas, a Japanese city gas utility. Speaking at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference in Tokyo, a Petronas official also said the company’s third FLNG project offshore Malaysia is scheduled to start production in 2027.

Toho Engineering Corp. of Japan is one of the companies said to have been short-listed for the new Petronet LNG terminal planned for Gopalpur Port in the East Coast state of Odisha.

Sempra, the US utility company with power and natural gas services centred on California and Texas and LNG developments in the US and Mexico through the Sempra Infrastructure subsidiary, posted solid third-quarter earnings and said it expected to increase capital investment by up to 20 percent above the current $40 billion over the next five years.

US engineering company McDermott International was awarded a contract to provide front-end engineering and design services for the Ichthys liquified natural gas field development of Japanese energy firm Inpex Corp. offshore Western Australia.

The Houston, Texas-based company said the award was for a booster compression module with optional engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the project.

The booster compression module will be added to the Ichthys LNG central processing facility, located offshore the northwest coast of Western Australia.

“This award illustrates McDermott's continuing expertise in complex offshore EPCI,” said Ian Prescott, McDermott's Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific.

“Our work to date demonstrates our qualifications to deliver smart solutions in challenging environments - and to the highest safety and technical standards,” stated Prescott.

McDermott has been a long-standing operator in the Asia-Pacific energy market as well as being involved in the US Gulf Coast LNG export plant build-out.

McDermott is also undertaking subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (URF) as part of an expansion of the existing Ichthys LNG facilities.

Engineering will be completed in McDermott's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was already underway.

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

The company also has a stake in Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude FLNG project offshore northwest Australia, as well as the planned development of an onshore plant in Indonesia.

The Australian Ichthys 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 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.

Japanese energy major Inpex Corp. has achieved completion of the project financing contracts for its Ichthys LNG export plant at Bladin Point near Darwin in the Australian Northern Territory after costs and delays multiplied over several years.

JERA Co. Inc., the Japanese utility and energy company and the world’s largest LNG buyer, said Chita LNG terminal in Aichi Prefecture received its 4,000th shipment with the arrival of the 126,000 cubic metres capacity “Senshu Maru” carrying volumes from Indonesia.

French energy major Total said it signed an agreement to sell 4 percent of its stake in the Australian Ichthys LNG export project in the Northern Territory for US$1.6 billion to operator Inpex Corp. of Japan.