Top 5 Japanese power firms sign $71.8-bn LNG deal with Australia’s Ichthys
07 Dec 2011
Japan's five large utility companies yesterday signed a $71.8-billion deal to buy Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Australia's proposed Ichthys Project, in what would be the Japan's biggest single financial investment in the country.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, Tokyo Gas Co, The Kansai Electric Power Co., Osaka Gas Co, and Kyushu Electric Power Company Inc will buy 4.0 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG starting from 2017 from Ichthys.
The Ichthys LNG project, which has committed to supply 70 per cent of its total output to Japanese companies, will push Australia's total LNG exports to 80 million tonnes per year by end of the decade, surpassing the world's largest LNG exporter, Qatar, which has a current export capacity of 77 million tonnes per year.
Ichthys is a joint venture between Tokyo-listed Inpex, with a 76-per cent stake and is the operator of the project, and French energy giant Total, which holds the remaining 24 per cent.
Inpex yesterday said that it would transfer 1.2 per cent of its stake in the Ichthys joint venture to Osaka Gas.
The Ichthys project already has sales agreements with Thailand's Chubu Electric Power Company, Japan's Toho Gas Co, Taiwan's CPC Corporation and Total.
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