LNG News Editor:
Inpex Corp., the leading Japanese energy company and operator of the Ichthys liquefied natural export plant in Australia and developer of the Abadi liquefaction project in Indonesia, reported 34 cargoes shipped in the first quarter from the Ichthys plant at Bladin Point near Darwin.
Inpex gave the figure in its first-quarter earnings when it reported a more than 60 percent surge in net income on higher volumes and prices.
The company posted a 19 percent jump in quarterly sales of 578.4 billion yen ($4.28Bln) in the first three months of 2023 versus 485.3Bln ($3.59Bln) in the 2022 quarter.
Net income for the quarter rose by 61.2 percent to 151.4Bln yen ($1.12Bln) compared with 93.9Bln yen ($695 million) in the prior-year quarter coming mainly from sales of oil, pipeline gas and LNG.
The average overseas natural gas sales price for Inpex increased by 11 percent to $6.73 per thousand cubic feet of gas from $6.06 per mcf.
Gas assets
The Inpex oil and gas assets in Japan comprise the domestic Japanese Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field in Niigata Prefecture and the Naoetsu LNG import terminal.
Inpex said average quarterly domestic natural gas prices soared to 110.67 yen per cubic metres from 65.76 yen per cubic metre in the same quarter last year.
“The company’s net sales of crude oil increased by 44.1Bln yen, or 12.4 percent, to 399.6Bln yen, and net sales of natural gas increased by 49.8Bln, or 40.2 percent, to 173.7Bln yen,” the company said.
“Sales volume of crude oil increased by 1,502 thousand barrels, or 4.3 percent, to 36,677 thousand barrels, and sales volume of natural gas increased by 2,456 million cf, or 2.0 percent, to 128,241 million cf,” Inpex added.
Inpex own a 66 percent stake the Ichthys plant in Australia’s Northern Territory and currently supplies about 10 percent of Japan’s LNG imports. The other main shareholder is TotalEnergies.
The Japanese company has also finalized a revised development plan for the Abadi LNG export project in Indonesia, a joint venture with Shell.
Inpex submitted the new plan to Indonesian regulators in April 2023 incorporating a carbon-capture and storage component.
Inpex's venture will be located onshore Yamdena Island in the Tanimbar Island chain and use feed-gas from the Abadi gas field in the Masela Block of Indonesia's Arafura Sea.
The liquefaction and export plant could be expected to be operational by around 2030.
