Ichthys Venturer, a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, has departed Okpo, South Korea and started sailing towards the Ichthys gas / condensate field near the shores of Western Australia.
The 336m-long ship-shaped facility will travel 5,600km to reach the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project located in the Browse Basin.
Ichthys Project managing director Louis Bon said: “The sail away of the massive Ichthys Venturer marks another significant stride forward for the Ichthys LNG Project.
“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.”
The facility has a storage capacity of 1.12 million barrels of condensate and an operational lifespan of 40 years.
After reaching the location, the FPSO will undergo hook-up and commissioning procedures and be permanently moored in 250m-deep waters.
Last month, the central processing facility (CPF) of the LNG project, ‘Ichthys Explorer’, was successfully moored about 3.5km away.
Ichthys Venturer will be responsible for processing and storing condensate delivered from the Ichthys Explorer, as well as offload the condensate to export carrier vessels at regular intervals.
Discovered in 2000, the Ichthys gas and condensate field is expected to produce 8.9 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum.
In addition to Inpex, Total, CPC Corporation Taiwan and the subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA and Toho Gas hold interest in the project.
Ichthys is scheduled to become operational in March 2018.
Image: The Ichthys LNG Project’s central processing facility ‘Ichthys Explorer’ arrives in Australian waters following a 5,600km tow from South Korea. Photo: courtesy of INPEX.
