GE O&G wins $1 billion Ichthys LNG project

GE Oil & Gas has received contracts totaling more than $1 billion to supply a wide range of equipment and services for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia. A joint venture between INPEX (operator) and Total, the Ichthys LNG project includes one of the world's largest LNG facilities and is based on an estimated 40 years of gas and condensate reserves from the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia.

The Ichthys LNG Project is a joint venture between INPEX (76 percent, the operator) and Total (24 percent). Gas from the Ichthys Field, in the Browse Basin approximately 124 miles (200 kilometers) offshore of Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate. The gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889-km subsea pipeline. The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce 8.4 million tons of LNG and 1.6 million tons of LPG per annum, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.

GE will provide rotating equipment, including gas turbines and compressors, for a new Ichthys LNG plant at Blaydin Point, near Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, and associated floating production storage and offloading and a central processing facility (CPF) located in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia. In addition, GE will supply subsea production systems for the offshore portion of the project as well as subsea connectors for a 552-mile (889 kilometer) pipeline that will carry the gas produced from a CPF to the new LNG plant in Darwin. GE announced the award of the contract at the 2012 GE Oil & Gas Annual Meeting being held Jan. 30-31 in Florence, Italy.

The scope of GE's supply includes four Frame 7EA Gas Turbines and eight MR/PR Compressors for the LNG plant; 10 PGT25+G4 gas turbines and 10 compressors for upstream facilities; and 22 subsea production trees, five off-subsea manifolds, an integrated subsea control system and a 42-inch trunk line connection system. The equipment will be shipped by 2014 and INPEX expects to start producing LNG by the end of 2016.

"We have been able to confirm our strong heritage in the LNG sector, leveraging our gas turbine, compressor and subsea production technologies for many of the world's leading LNG projects, including the Ichthys subsea development," said Dan Heintzelman, CEO of GE Oil & Gas. "Our growing commitment to the LNG industry in Australia was another key factor in winning this significant award."

Among GE's recent investments in Australia is the recently opened Jandakot facility in Perth, a $100 million state-of-the-art technology and learning center that will support the training of the next generation of skilled workers in the oil and gas, energy, mining, transportation and water industries. In addition, GE Oil & Gas has established a strong position in Australia's LNG sector, providing equipment for most of the country's LNG projects including Gorgon, Wheatstone, Prelude FLNG and Queensland CSM LNG projects. According to the Australian government's Department of Resources, Energy & Tourism, the Australian LNG industry has the potential to attract up to A$60 billion in new project investment over the next 10 years.