so whats the plan ? , page-67

Ervina. Intrigued by your comment as well.
I posted a news article (February 2009 article) recently saying that WA was going to be trying to get the Inpex plant built in WA. Looks like they did their research last year. I certainly hope it is built in NT.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/11/2488676.htm


Ichthys-Darwin pipeline project viable

Matt Chambers | July 14, 2008
Article from: The Australian

JAPAN'S energy company Inpex says a pipeline to Darwin from its huge Ichthys gas field off the northwest coast looks viable as it considers shifting the location of a West Australian LNG plant that could generate more than $10 billion in annual revenue.

The comments come as industry sources say the odds of Inpex committing to a plant at Darwin's Blaydin Point are growing. The company is becoming increasingly frustrated in its dealings with the WA Government.

"So far, everything about the Darwin option is shaping up as a viable project," Inpex spokesman Sean Kildare said.

The technical challenges of building and operating a 900km pipeline from the Ichthys field to Darwin could be overcome and it appeared to be economically viable, he said.

"We haven't come across anything that has given us pause" or to think it could not be done, he said. A decision on whether to go ahead was expected by the end of the year.

He stressed that discussions with the WA Government were friendly and frequent.

In February, Inpex said it would study a Darwin plant after the federal and WA governments embarked on a plan to restrict LNG development in the offshore Browse Basin, where Ichthys is located, to a Kimberley hub.

Inpex had wanted to process the gas on the Maret Islands, but plans for a hub have made approvals uncertain and the company has stopped referring to WA as its preferred option.

"At this time, the joint venture (France's Total has a 24 per cent stake) still considers it a viable option alongside Darwin, with the hub a third, emerging, option," Mr Kildare said. The company was waiting for more details on the hub.

The federal and WA governments this month said they had selected nine possible sites for a hub and would narrow this down to a short list in August.

Inpex's Darwin study was widely viewed as a threat to coerce the WA Government into letting the Maret Islands plan go ahead, but is now being giving more credence in the industry.

The project being looked at would produce 8 million tonnes a year of LNG, 1.6 million tonnes a year of LPG and 100,000 barrels a day of condensate.

At prices of $US10 a gigajoule for LNG, $US900 a tonne for LPG and $US140 a barrel of crude oil, that would equate to revenue of $US11 billion ($11.4 billion).

As well as containing 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves after a May upgrade from 9.5tcf, the Ichthys field has reserves of 527 million barrels of condensate, making it the biggest liquid hydrocarbon accumulation found in Australia since oil was struck in Bass Strait in the 1960s.

Inpex has not updated its cost expectations of $US8-$US10 billion, which it concedes are out of date, for Ichthys.

NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson, who recently flew to France to talk to Total executives about the project, said Darwin had not yet secured the project, which would cost $12 billion.

"I've taken Darwin's competitive advantages to the highest levels of Inpex and Total and I'm going to keep doing all I can to offer the companies certainty to secure this $12 billion project for the NT, but it's a long way from over," Mr Henderson said.

First production from Darwin or the Maret Island was expected at the end of 2013, Mr Kildare said.