A spokesman for Inpex confirmed this to LNG Prime in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
“While I can confirm that the production rate has decreased temporarily, as a matter of longstanding policy, we do not comment on the specifics concerning operational and/or commercial matters regarding Ichthys LNG,” he said.
Nine cargoes per month
The spokesman also confirmed that Inpex expects to ship nine LNG cargoes per month during 2025, including scheduled maintenance.
“At this point, while we are working on verifying the situation, our projection remains unchanged – 11 cargoes during months not affected by the scheduled maintenance shutdown and an average of nine cargoes per month overall,” he said.
Data posted on the Inpex Australia website shows that the maintenance scope includes both Ichthys LNG trains.
Inpex plans to start maintenance on August 18 and complete it on October 8.
In addition, the scope also includes Ichthys Explorer CPF and Ichthys Venturer FPSO.
Inpex aims to begin maintenance on the CPF on August 19 and the FPSO on August 23.
Maintenance work on both facilities is expected to be completed on September 29.
Inpex shipped 116 LNG cargoes from its Ichthys export plant in 2024, down by 13 shipments compared to the year before.
The company shipped 66 LNG cargoes from its Ichthys export plant during the first half of 2024, one cargo more compared to the same period in 2023.
However, Ichthys LNG Train 2 was taken offline on August 20 due to a heat exchanger issue. It was then returned to service on October 9 after repairs were completed.
On September 10, Inpex announced it had decided to reduce Train 1’s rate of operations to about 70 percent to carry out inspections as the unit is using the same equipment as Train 2.
The first liquefaction train resumed full operations in early December.
Third train
Besides the two trains, Inpex is also planning to build the third liquefaction train at the Ichthys plant.
Inpex said in its financial report earlier this year that it plans to launch train 3 in the first half of the 2030s.
Ichthys LNG is a joint venture between operator Inpex and major partner TotalEnergies.
Last year, Inpex also purchased a small stake in Ichthys LNG from compatriot Tokyo Gas to boost its stake from 66.245 percent to 67.82 percent.
Besides TotalEnergies, other partners in the Ichthys project include Australian units of CPC, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Jera, and Toho Gas.
Natural gas arrives to the LNG plant at Bladin Point, near Darwin, from the giant Ichthys field offshore Western Australia via an 890-kilometer-long export pipeline.
