LNG boom or bust for Australia
17 January 2012
Inpex and Total are pushing ahead with Ichthys LNG. But can the country – and the market – sustain such ambitious development plans?
Damon Evans, SINGAPORE: Australia is well on its way to becoming the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer following Inpex and Total’s approval of the A$34 billion ($35 billion) Ichthys development. The 8.4 million tonnes a year (t/y) export scheme will be Australia’s eighth LNG project and the second biggest resource project in the country’s history, after Chevron’s A$43 billion Gorgon LNG project.
The decision brings the sum of capital committed to new LNG projects in Australia to around A$180 billion and opens new development options for gas finds off the remote northwest coast, setting the Northern Territory capital of Darwin up as a hub for Browse basin discoveries. The official nod pits Darwin against the controversial James Price Point site on Western Australia’s Kimberley coast, chosen by Woodside as its preferred onshore site for its proposed Browse LNG plant....