Hot on the heals of Prelude, the Ichthys LNG project is heading for FID this year.
The Australian Government has given environmental approval.
On the marketing front, Inpex has said that Ichthys has a clear prospect of selling the entire 8.4 million tonne capacity of the project, with agreements with Chubu Power (0.49 mtpa), Toho Gas (0.28 mtpa) and CPC of Taiwan (1.75 mtpa). Marketing negotiations are close to being finalised with another five major Japanese utilities and INPEX and TOTAL will take 1.8 mtpa on their own account.
Traditionally CPC has sourced its LNG from Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar. This is their first Australian deal. They also have a PNG contract.
If Ichthys reaches FID this year there will be six Australian LNG projects under development: Pluto, Gorgon, QCLNG, GLNG, Prelude and Ichthys. The total capacity of these projects is 47.6 million tonnes and when completed will bring total Australian capacity to around 67 million tonnes.
In addition we expect Wheatstone and APLNG to reach FID this year.