The Ichthys Explorer, the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project’s central processing facility (CPF), sailed away from its construction site in Geoje, South Korea in route to the Ichthys field offshore Western Australia, following the completion of shipyard commissioning and preparation work.
The Ichthys Explorer CPF sails away to the Ichthys field. Image from Inpex. |
The Ichthys Explorer will be towed to the Ichthys field over a period of approximately 1.5 months, after which it is scheduled to undergo hook-up. The facility will then separate and process the produce lifted from subsea production wells into gases and liquids over 40 years of continuous operation.
The Ichthys Venturer, the project’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, is also scheduled to be towed to the Ichthys field and undergo hook-up.
Following the arrival of the Ichthys Explorer CPF and the Ichthys Venturer, installation and commissioning work will be undertaken and production from the wellhead will start.
Afterwards, the Ichthys LNG project will, during the current fiscal year (ending 31 March 2018), begin production of condensate, LNG and liquefied petroleum gas in sequence and then ship these products.