Ichthys

Operator:Inpex Water Depth:280 m / 924 ft Region:Australia Country:Australia

Located on Block WA-285-P, Ichthys is one of Australia's biggest undeveloped gas projects that is estimated to hold recoverable reserves of 12.8 Tcf (.36 Tcm) of gas and 527 MMb of condensate. Ichthys is operated by INPEX with a 76% interest, and Total partners on the project with a 24% interest. The field lies 137 miles (220 kilometers) offshore in Australia's Browse Basin, in 853 to 919 feet (260 to 280 meters) of water. In 2000, Ichthys was discovered by three exploration wells, and then appraised by five wells three years later. On March 27, 2009, the partners reported that the field is commercially viable and submitted the field development plan for government approval. Field Development The development plans for the Ichthys field include several subsea wells tied-back to a central floating offshore processing facility for the gas, and an FPSO for the condensate. Also, a 528-mile (850-kilometer) subsea pipeline will be constructed to transport the gas to a LNG processing plant in Blaydin Point, Darwin. Currently, the partners are performing the FEED for the field development while making a final investment decision. The project is expected to produce 8.8 million tons (8 million metric tons) of LNG a year, with its first shipment being delivered in 2014. Further Exploration On July 8, 2008, a new gas discovery, Mimia, was found offshore northwest Australia. Located on the WA-344-P Block, the Mimia well is operated by Inpex, with a 60% interest, and Total partners on the project with a 40% interest. The Songa Venus semisub drilled the discovery well in a water depth of 833 feet (254 meters) and encountered a 236-foot (72-meter) gas column that confirmed the well as a gas and condensate discovery. The Mimia find is being evaluated to determine if it should be tied-back to the Ichthys project.

J P Kenny Secures Largest Ever FEED Contract for Ichthys LNG Project Wood Group
| Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ichthys Field Detail Map

J P Kenny, (JPK), a subsidiary of John Wood Group PLC ("Wood Group") is to carry out front end engineering design (FEED) of the pipeline and umbilicals, risers and flowlines (URF), for the INPEX-operated Ichthys liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia's Browse basin. MCS, another Wood Group company, will design the dynamic riser system. INPEX Browse Ltd (INPEX), operator of the Ichthys Project on behalf of joint venture participants -- INPEX (76%) and Total (24%) -- has been working with J P Kenny on concepts for the development since 2007. The FEED will require almost 200,000 man-hours of input and will produce defined solutions for the Subsea systems for the 850 km export pipeline. Gerwyn Williams, Group Managing Director, J P Kenny said, "We are delighted to be engineering our fourth successive $multi-billion subsea and pipeline project on the North West Shelf. Our track record on projects such as Woodside's Pluto has been to create savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, and we are pleased that INPEX want to capitalise on that expertise." Phil Brown, Operations Director of J P Kenny in Perth, added, "The riser engineering capabilities of MCS, a 2008 acquisition by Wood Group, will really help us to devise the best engineering solutions for this project, and the MCS team has been critical in developing our relationship with INPEX. This project will also involve significant contributions from JPK sister companies Ionik and MSi." The Ichthys Project is expected to have an initial capacity to produce more than eight million tonnes of LNG per annum, approximately 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum and 100,000 barrels of condensate per day, at peak. The first shipment of LNG is scheduled to be loaded in 2015.

Total, Inpex Launch Offshore FEED for Ichthys LNG Project in Australia Total S.A.
Thursday, April 30, 2009

Ichthys Field Detail Map

Total announced that the joint venture holding the Australian exploration permit WA-285-P (Total 24%, INPEX 76% operator) has decided to launch the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the development of the Ichthys Field, located in the Browse Basin approximately 200 kilometers offshore North West Australia and approximately 850 kilometers to the west of Darwin. With proved and probable reserves estimated to be around 530 million barrels of condensate and 12.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, Ichthys is one of the largest discoveries in Australia, and will be the first major gas development in the Browse Basin Region. Yves-Louis Darricarrere, President Exploration and Production Total, said, "With the launch of the Ichthys field offshore FEED, the project enters a new phase in which the facilities are defined and evaluated in more detail prior to the Final Investment Decision. Total, which is very active worldwide along the entire Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) chain, from field exploration and production to gas trading, is committed alongside INPEX to the development of the Ichthys project to deliver LNG to the markets."

About the Front End Engineering Design

During the Ichthys field FEED, the joint venture will define the production facilities comprising a subsea gas gathering network, a floating central offshore processing facility for the gas, a floating production storage and offloading unit for the condensate, and a gas pipeline to Darwin. AMEC will be responsible for providing project management, engineering and other resources necessary to produce the FEED for a large semisubmersible gas production facility, a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility (FPSO), Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines (URF), and a gas export pipeline. A separate FEED for a LNG plant located onshore in Darwin to liquefy the gas produced from Ichthys was launched in January 2009. The LNG plant will contribute to the local economy, providing employment for more than 2,000 people during the plant construction,

and for about 300 once in operation.

Economy Woes Won't Delay Inpex LNG Projects by Mari Iwata

| Dow Jones Newswires | Friday, March 27, 2009

Ichthys Field Detail Map

TOKYO (Dow Jones Newswires), Mar. 27, 2009

Japan's oil and gas producer Inpex Corp. will push ahead as scheduled with two big offshore liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and Indonesia, despite the credit crunch, low energy prices and falling demand. "You have to look at things with a long-term view. The bad economy won't be there for ever," company president Naoki Kuroda told Dow Jones Newswires. "We'll make the final investment decision on Ichthys in 2010, and start production in 2014 or early 2015...the decision on Abadi will follow about a year later in 2011 -- all as planned." Inpex plans to produce 8 million metric tons a year or more of LNG from the offshore Australia Ichthys field, at a facility near Darwin. It has a 76% stake in Ichthys, with France's Total SA holding the rest. The Japanese company has a 100% holding in the Abadi field in the Timor Sea in Indonesia. It plans to start commercial output of 4.5 million tons of LNG in 2016 using a floating liquefaction facility. "Maybe, you are worried about falling energy prices. But costs for the projects have also been reduced thanks to the bad economy," he pointed out, citing lower prices for iron ore and coking coal.

Inpex, which is partly government owned, was created in 2006 from a merger of energy companies Inpex and Teikoku Oil. It is a minnow when compared with global oil majors -- the Japanese company had energy reserves equivalent to 4.37 billion barrels of crude oil as of March 31 in 2008, compared with BP's 61.6 billion barrels reported on March 3 this year. However, Inpex has big ambitions and is keen to boost its energy output, and has been buying assets since its creation, which helps underpin resource-deficient Japan's energy security. Ichthys and Abadi are seen by many as test cases for whether the Tokyo-based company can succeed with major energy projects. Holding a majority stake and operating big international energy projects are historically very rare for Japanese companies. Tough Competition As a new kid on the block, Inpex is going up against some tough and well-established competition in the LNG market. The Chevron Corp.-led Gorgon LNG project in Australia and Exxon Mobil Corp.-led Papua New Guinea LNG project are both active now in signing up customers for their gas. Another competitor aiming to get its gas to market by 2012 could be the Liquid Niugini Gas project, led by Canada's InterOil, which is planning to invest up to $7 billion in building an LNG plant near Port Moresby. Kuroda didn't directly respond to questions about how it could compete with rival LNG projects for customers. But he was confident demand would be there. "Many LNG buyers have showed interest in our projects." Inpex hasn't yet officially started marketing talks with potential customers, nor has it put forward any LNG pricing proposals, although it frequently updates them on the state of the projects, he added. LNG demand will continue to rise in the longer term as natural gas emits much less carbon dioxide when burnt than oil and coal, especially when it is used at combined cycle power generation systems, Kuroda said. Takayuki Nogami, an analyst with government-backed Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp., said Inpex's strategy was a standard practice in the international upstream energy business, adding cash-rich big energy companies tend to buy assets and companies and start developing projects when energy prices slump. "The last time we saw such trends in the late 1990s," crude oil prices hovered between $10 and $20 a barrel, Nogami said.

Inpex posted a Y141 billion group net profit for the April-December period, on a revenue of Y922.6 billion, producing a relatively high profit margin when compared with many other Japanese companies. It hasn't released its own cost estimates for these two projects, but some media reports have suggested each of them could may require more than $20 billion. In a typical LNG project, buyers and the LNG carrier share development costs with sellers, as supplies are usually contracted for a decade or longer. Japan is the largest LNG buyer in the world by volume. It imported 69.3 million tons of LNG in 2008, up 3.7% on year and 17% from five years before, according to the Ministry of Finance. Apart from its Australia and Indonesia projects, Inpex has energy investments in 26 countries, including Brazil, Kazakhstan and Ecuador.