Ichthys Venturer, the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project’ floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, sailed away on July 18 from waters near its construction site in Okpo, South Korea, en route to Australia.
This follows the completion of commissioning and preparation work, according to the company.
The 336-meter-long ship-shaped, offshore facility began the 5,600-kilometer voyage that will take approximately one month to complete, towards its ultimate destination in the Browse Basin, some 220 kilometers off the north coast of Western Australia.
“The sail away of the massive Ichthys Venturer marks another significant stride forward for the Ichthys LNG Project,” Louis Bon, Managing Director Ichthys Project, commented.
“The Ichthys Venturer has been designed to withstand cyclonic conditions and is one of the largest and most advanced offshore facilities of its kind in the world,” Bon added.
As informed, the 340,000 dwt FPSO unit has a storage capacity of 1.12 million barrels of condensate and will have a continuous operating life of 40 years. The facility will be permanently moored in 250-meter-deep waters, where it will undergo hook-up and commissioning, along with the Ichthys Explorer central processing facility (CPF), located 3.5 kilometers away.
When operational, the FPSO will process and store condensate delivered from the Ichthys LNG Project’s CPF before periodically offloading this condensate to export carrier vessels.
The Ichthys LNG Project is a project led by INPEX alongside major partner TOTAL, and the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corporation Taiwan, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric, JERA and Toho Gas that involves liquefying natural gas lifted from the Ichthys Gas-condensate field offshore Western Australia to an onshore gas liquefaction plant constructed in Darwin, Northern Territory, and producing and shipping approximately 8.9 million tons of LNG and approximately 1.65 million tons of LPG per year.
Video Courtesy: INPEX Australia