Japan's Inpex targets Australia for growth
18/05/2022 08:45
By Sonali Paul
BRISBANE, May 18 (Reuters) - Inpex Corp 1605.T , Japan's
top oil and gas producer, wants to to grow in Australia through
expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output as well as
hydrogen and nature-based carbon offset projects, a senior
executive said on Wednesday.
Inpex's $40 billion Ichthys LNG project and stakes in other
gas projects last year contributed more than 70% of the
company's global revenue and now the company has set up a "new
energy" business in Australia to look at other opportunities.
"So Australia is really important and becoming increasingly
important because of this aspiration to grow our business here,"
said Inpex vice president Bill Townsend.
Its top priority is to find new gas sources to supply its
Ichthys LNG plant in Darwin, as it looks to boost output from
its two processing units, or trains, by 0.4 million tonnes a
year to 9.3 million tonnes a year by 2024, Townsend told
Reuters. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nT9N2VW01Z
The goal is to keep the Ichthys offshore central processing
facility, pipeline and LNG plant at full capacity for their
projected 40-year life, he said.
The Ichthys LNG plant site has room for more trains, and
adding one more train is an aspiration, "but it's too early to
announce anything, because the first thing that we need to do is
find the gas," Townsend said.
While exploring for gas, the company is also working on
plans to reduce emissions from its own operations using carbon
capture and storage (CCS) at a proposed $1 billion hub in the
depleted Bayu-Undan reservoir in the Timor Sea and in its own
project in waters off Darwin. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2X91S0
It has applied for Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage 270
kilometres off Darwin released by the Australian government in a
recent bidding round, due to be awarded after the country's May
21 election.
Down the track, when there is demand for hydrogen, the
company would look to produce hydrogen from methane, capturing
the carbon dioxide released using CCS.
"That's where CCS becomes such an enabler - not just
creating cleaner LNG but possibly hydrogen," Townsend said.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul, Editing by Louise Heavens)
((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))