Australian offshore vessel provider MMA Offshore has named its second platform supply vessel destined to support the giant Ichthys gas development offshore W. Australia.
The vessel, christened MMA Brewster, will provide long-term production support operations to Inpex – the Ichthys field operator.
MMA Offshore won the contract back in 2014, and had to build two vessel to Inpex specifications.
The first vessel of the pair, the MMA Plover, was officially named at a ceremony held in Australia in August last year.
Once the Ichthys operations kick off, the two vessels will be operated by Australian resident crew, and will supply the Ichthys offshore facilities from Darwin and Broome.
The Ichthys gas field is located some 220 kilometers off the northern coast of Western Australia.
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.
Worth noting, the production deadline may have changed, as Reuters recently quoted Total’s CEO as saying that Ichthys won’t produce gas before 2018, with only condensate expected in 2017.
Offshore Energy Today Staff