Inpex to build LNG import terminal for 100b yen

Inpex Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer, said on Monday it has decided to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in northwestern Japan for about 100 billion yen (S$1.3 billion) to meet robust growth in LNG demand.

Inpex had said in August 2007 it was considering building two 180,000-kilolitre LNG storage tanks at the port in Joetsu, Niigata prefecture. A company executive said at the time the investment would not exceed 100 billion yen.

The company now aims to begin operations at the new LNG terminal in 2014, compared with initial plans for the end of 2013.

The terminal is expected to be able to handle around 500,000 to one million tonnes of LNG imports in its first year, and in excess of that afterwards, said Hisatake Matsuno, a director at Inpex.

Mr Matsuno also said the terminal would receive LNG supplies from Inpex's own projects in Indonesia and Australia.

Inpex, along with Total of France, is a stakeholder in the eight million-tonnes-a-year Ichthys LNG field off the coast of western Australia, which is expected to start output either in the second half of 2013 or the first half of 2014.

Inpex plans to import five million tonnes of LNG a year from the project into Japan once productions starts, with the terminal estimated to receive 500,000 to one million tonnes of that figure, a company spokesman announced.

Inpex supplies domestically produced natural gas to its clients via a pipeline, and the terminal will help boost supply capacity.

Japan is the world's top consumer of LNG and demand for the environment-friendly fuel is growing rapidly at a time of high crude oil prices.