Platform supply vessel MMA Plover was officially named at a ceremony held on Sunday in Australia.
The vessel is the first of two custom-built platform supply vessels which will support the giant gas field development offshore Australia – the Ichthys. According to Inpex, the Japanese company operation the field, the MMA Plover was named after one of the Ichthys Field’s huge condensate-rich gas reservoirs.
Named at the at Broome Port on August 14, the vessel will support the facilities moored in the Ichthys Field, located about 450 kilometers north of Broome.
The Ichthys LNG project is a joint venture between Inpex, the operator, major partner Total, CPC Corporation Taiwan and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.
The final investment decision for the Ichthys LNG project was reached in 2012 and the first production is scheduled to start towards the end of September 2017.
The project is expected to produce 8.9 million tons of LNG and 1.6 million tons of LPG per year, along with more than 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak. Gas and condensate from the Ichthys field will be exported to onshore facilities for processing near Darwin via the 889 km pipeline.
Most condensate will be directly shipped to global markets from an FPSO facility permanently moored near the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin.
Offshore Energy Today Staff