The company owns 100% of the Ichthys field, about 440km north of Broome in the Browse Basin, which is estimated to hold at least 6 trillion cubic feet of gas. The project is expected to produce about 5-6 million tonnes a year – about half the annual output of the North West Shelf.
Inpex is reportedly now moving ahead with an environmental impact study to develop the field.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper cited Inpex sources as saying the company planned to spend between 550 and 700 billion yen ($A6.4 and $A8.1 billion) developing the resource, making it the biggest gas production project headed by a Japanese company.
Inpex already has a stake in the BHP Billiton-operated Griffin oil and gas development, and is involved in exploration with companies such as Santos and Bass Strait Oil.
This move comes amid growing competition with other countries, particularly China, to secure gas supplies.
Japan is already one of the largest importers of Australian LNG and has signed up to buy gas from new projects, such as the $11 billion Gorgon gas development and Woodside’s Pluto project.
