Ichthys semisubmersible CPF arrives off Western Australia

The semisubmersible central processing facility (CPF) for the Inpex-operated Ichthys gas-condensate development project arrived at its field destination in the Browse basin about 450 km north of Broome and 220 km offshore Kimberley, Western Australia.

The 120,000-tonne platform, christened the Ichthys Explorer, was towed for 34 days over 5,600 km from Samsung Heavy Industry’s Geoje shipyard in South Korea. The vessel has topsides measuring 130 m by 120 m making it the world’s largest semisubmersible platform, Inpex says. It has accommodations for as many as 200 workers.

Hook-up commissioning will begin once the CPF is moored on station. The Ichthys Explorer will remain there in 250 m of water for the expected 40-year life of Ichthys field.

The CPF is the central hub of the $37-billion Ichthys LNG project and will perform the initial offshore processing of all production from the field, delivered to it via a network comprising 130 km of subsea flowlines.

Processed gas will be sent through the 890-km pipeline to the onshore LNG plant at Bladin Point near Darwin.

Most of the condensate and water from the CPF will be transferred to the nearby Ichthys Venture floating production, storage, and offloading vessel. Condensate will be sold direct to the international market via offtake tankers.

Ichthys Venture, being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, is nearing completion in South Korea. It is expected at the field later this year.

Inpex in April pushed back by 6 months the scheduled start-date for the project. The start of LNG production now is expected to be during March 2018.

The project will produce 8.9 million tonnes/year of LNG along with 1.6 million tpy of LPG and 100,000 b/d of condensate.

Inpex has 62.245% interest in the project, Total 30%, CPC Corp. 2.625%, Tokyo Gas 1.575%, Osaka Gas 1.2%, Kansai Electric 1.2%, Jera 0.735% and Toho Gas 0.42%.