TotalEnergies and INPEX have signed an agreement with PTTEP to purchase 100% interest in the AC-RL7 permit offshore Western Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to approval by the relevant authorities, TotalEnergies will acquire a 26% interest in the permit in line with its equity in Ichthys LNG, while INPEX will acquire the remaining 74% and assume operatorship. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The permit covers an area of 418 km2 in the Timor Sea, approximately 250 km northeast of the Ichthys offshore facilities. The permit includes the Cash and Maple gas and condensate fields, discovered in 2002 and 1989 respectively, and subsequently appraised by several wells.
The development of these fields is expected to contribute to the long-term supply of the Ichthys LNG natural gas liquefaction plant, in which TotalEnergies is a 26% partner while INPEX and other Asian minority shareholders hold the remaining 74%.
“Thanks to this joint acquisition together with our partner INPEX, we are pleased to secure additional resources for the future supply of the Ichthys LNG plant,” said Julien Pouget, senior vice president Asia-Pacific, exploration & production at TotalEnergies. “These resources will help us to meet the long-term demand of our customers in the Asia-Pacific region for LNG. This acquisition is also supported by the efforts undertaken with INPEX in the Bonaparte CCS Assessment joint venture to appraise the area’s potential for geological storage of CO2, in order to abate CO2 emissions from the Ichthys LNG project.”
TotalEnergies is the world’s third-largest LNG player with a market share of around 12% and a global portfolio of about 50 mtpa. The company said it benefits from an integrated position across the LNG value chain, including production, transportation, access to more than 20 mtpa of regasification capacity in Europe, trading, and LNG bunkering.
Ichthys LNG, which came on line in the summer of 2018, is expected to produce up to 9.3 mtpa of LNG and 1.65 mtpa of LPG, along with more than 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.
