INPEX Selects Singapore as Oil, Gas Trading Hub

INPEX has set up a wholly owned subsidiary INPEX Energy Trading Singapore Pte Ltd.

In anticipation of further increased volumes of such entitlement by developing the Ichthys LNG Project, Prelude Project and other projects, INPEX has decided to set up a new office in Singapore, one of the hubs for energy trading, to strengthen INPEX’s marketing activities in Asia where energy demand is expected to grow, to make shipping operation more efficient and to enhance the capability of information-gathering on energy market. 

Shipping operation means management and administration of shipping of the LNG to be produced from the INPEX operated Ichthys LNG Project, offshore Western Australia.

In June last year Inpex announced shipbuilding and shipping contracts for two new vessels which will offtake and deliver LNG from the Ichthys LNG Project offshore Western Australia to Japan and Taiwan. One LNG vessel will be jointly owned with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (‘”K” Line’) through Ocean Breeze LNG Transport S. A. and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The vessel will be operated by Ocean Breeze LNG Transport S. A. as a time charter.

The 155,300 cubic metre capacity carrier will offtake 900,000 tonnes per annum of LNG from the Ichthys LNG Project and features an innovative peapod-shaped continuous cover protecting the four moss spherical tanks. The reduced weight combined with reheated steam turbine propulsion will contribute to an expected 20 per cent or more decrease in fuel consumption per unit cargo compared to conventional vessels.

A second, 182,000 cubic metre capacity vessel will also be operated as a time charter by “K” Line for delivery to CPC Corporation, Taiwan.

These arrangements will contribute to strengthening INPEX’s global gas supply chain which connects INPEX’s overseas gas assets with its Naoetsu LNG Receiving Terminal in Joetsu and its natural gas pipeline network in Japan.

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January 17, 2014