Australia's Ichthys to ship 120 LNG, 60 condensate cargoes in 2021: Inpex

Tokyo — Inpex, Japan's largest upstream company, said Feb. 10 it plans to keep its LNG and condensate shipments from its operated Ichthys project in Australia at a high level in 2021, shipping around 120 LNG cargoes, 36 offshore condensate cargoes and 24 plant condensate cargoes.

In 2020, the project shipped 122 LNG cargoes, 34 offshore condensate cargoes, 22 plant condensate cargoes and 34 LPG cargoes, an Inpex spokesman told S&P Global Platts. The spokesman declined to provide 2021 planned LPG shipments.

The 2020 Ichthys shipments indicate the project has reached full operations following the commencement of LNG and condensate shipments in October 2018 and LPG shipments in November 2018.

The project, operated by Inpex, involves piping gas from the offshore Ichthys field in the Browse Basin in northwestern Australia over 890 km (552 miles) to the onshore 8.9 million mt/year LNG plant near Darwin. At peak, it has capacity to produce 1.65 million mt/year of LPG and 100,000 b/d of condensate.

With its 66.245% stake in the Ichthys project, Inpex has a right to lift 900,000 mt/year of Ichthys LNG, a majority of which it receives at its Naoetsu LNG import terminal in northwestern Japan for its pipeline gas supply.

Spending more on development, exploration

Inpex, which reported its first-ever annual net loss in 2020, said it plans to raise its development expenditures in 2021 by 38.2% year on year to Yen 231 billion ($2.2 billion) and boost its exploration expenditures by 49.5% on the year to Yen 16 billion.

Inpex's planned increase in development expenditures will come mainly for the Ichthys project, as well as for onshore and offshore oil developments in Abu Dhabi, the spokesman said.

The company secured a $1 billion loan in October 2020 from a banking consortium led by the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation for its development of the Satah/Umm Al-Dalkh, Upper Zakum and Lower Zakum oil fields offshore Abu Dhabi and the emirate's onshore concession.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. plans to boost its oil production capacity from over 4 million b/d now to 5 million b/d by 2030. The increments will mainly come from Upper Zakum, Umm Shaif, South East Fields, Bu Hasa and Bab oil fields. It is expected Upper Zakum oil production capacity will rise from 750,000 b/d to 1 million b/d by 2024.

Inpex's 2021 planned explorations include around the Ichthys gas-condensate field, as well as in Abu Dhabi's onshore Block 4, Iraq's onshore Block 10, and in Block 22 in the Mexican sector of the southern Gulf of Mexico, the spokesman said.

Inpex plans to produce 559,000 b/d of oil equivalent in 2021, down 2.5% from 573,400 boe/d produced in 2020, due to the ongoing OPEC+ output agreement and planned scheduled maintenance, the spokesman said.

Inpex on Feb. 10 posted a net loss of Yen 111.699 billion for 2020, compared with a Yen 123.550 billion net profit in 2019 due to an impairment loss of Yen 189.9 billion from the coronavirus-led slump in oil prices and demand among other factors.

It was Inpex's first annual loss since merging with Teikoku Oil in 2008.

Inpex now forecasts to turn to a profit in 2021 of Yen 100 billion on revenue of Yen 883 billion, up 14.5% from 771 billion in 2020, on the basis of a Brent crude oil price of $53/b throughout 2021. Brent recently climbed above $60/b.