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Ichthys: TotalEnergies and Inpex ensuring together a stable LNG supply to Japan

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220 kilometers off Australia’s northwest shore, TotalEnergies has developed a giant gas and condensates field with Inpex, its Japanese operator. Already partners for more than 50 years, the two companies put together their expertise and resources to construct one of the largest oil & gas facilities in the world. The Ichthys LNG project ensures Japan for decades with a stable supply of energy.

Ichthys LNG, a 3-in-1 project

Following Inpex’s discovery of the Ichthys field, Total took a 24% (now 26%) stake in the project in 2006. The two partners have immediately started to put in common their engineering skills and marketing abilities to develop a “3-in-1” project:

  • Processing and production facilities offshore, where gas and condensates will be processed on a semi-submersible platform, separating the gas and liquids

  • Natural gas liquefaction facilities onshore

  • One of the world’s longest subsea pipelines (890 kilometers) to link them.

This ambitious project kicked off with a final investment decision taken in 2012 and completed in 2018. It is expected to be operational over a period of 40 years.

An exemplary partnership in LNG

TotalEnergies and Inpex work together on this project from extraction, liquefaction and shipping to regasification, marketing and trading. This successful cooperation is the result of a mutual trust built over the years, a powerful alliance in LNG which started in Indonesia in 1967 with the development of the Mahakam Block. Today Ichthys enhances TotalEnergies’s position in LNG production and contributes to our expansion into growing Asian gas markets.

A long-term energy supply commitment to Japan

LNG offers greater supply security for importing nations because it can be shipped by sea. It is also the cleanest fossil fuel and the perfect partner for renewable energies. By delivering the Ichthys project into production, TotalEnergies and Inpex are securing vital long-term energy supply to Japan. The annual production capacity of LNG is 8.9 million tons, 64% of which will be directly delivered to Japanese customers under long-term contracts. This represents the equivalent of the annual gas consumption of 19 million households. The Ichthys project will provide Japan with a stable energy supply for a long period.

Alongside with minority Japanese partners (Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric, JERA and Toho Gas) and a Taiwanese partner CPC, TotalEnergies and Inpex will continue the ongoing and long-term success of the Ichthys project.

In July 2021, TotalEnergies and Inpex made arrangements of carbon-neutral LNG from the Ichthys LNG Project, and delivered the shipment to INPEX’s Naoetsu LNG Terminal in Niigata Prefecture, marking INPEX’s first offtake of carbon-neutral LNG.

Learn more about the Ichthys Project: