The government of Australia's Northern Territory has given its environmental approval for Japanese upstream company Inpex's plans to develop the Ichthys LNG project, which is expected to go to a final investment decision before the end of this year.
Northern Territory Environment Minister Karl Hampton has advised Planning Minister Gerry McCarthy that the environmental impacts of the project, to be built at a site on Blaydin Point in Darwin, can be managed within acceptable limits, he said in a statement Tuesday.
The Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport's environmental assessment report on the project "does not recommend any changes to Inpex's development but it does recommend that offsets be identified for greenhouse gases, removal of the monsoon vine forest and harbor impacts around dredging, including blasting if required," Hampton said.
"Most of the remaining recommendations in the report identify further monitoring and management plans that need to be developed to make the safeguards work and to assist regulation of construction and operation of the facility," he added. "This is in the critical areas of dredging, disposal of dredge spoil, waste disposal, traffic impacts and social impact management."
The proposal will now be forwarded to the Australian federal government for approval, expected in June. Inpex would then be required to submit a development application to the Northern Territory government.
"Inpex has made every effort to produce an environmental impact statement that meets the expectations of the Northern Territory community," Inpex President Director Australia Seiya Ito said in a statement. "The Northern Territory government has endorsed the Ichthys project's approach to managing environmental issues," he added.
Inpex is currently nearing the end of front-end engineering and design work for Ichthys and is expected to take a final investment decision on the $20 billion plus project in December.
The Ichthys field lies in Timor Sea permit WA-37-R, about 200 km (124 miles) off northwestern Australia, and is owned 76% by Inpex and 24% by French major Total. The field holds 12.8 Tcf of gas and 527 million barrels of condensate.
Gas from Ichthys will be piped 820 km to the liquefaction plant in Darwin. The plant will produce 8.4 million mt/year of LNG, 1.6 million mt/year of LPG and around 100,000 b/d of condensate, with first output expected in late 2016.
