An Inpex spokesman told Bloomberg that the Japanese major and its partner are “holding back” on a decision to start engineering and design work on the 9.5 trillion cubic feet project.
A final investment decision on Ichthys had been due this year. Inpex last year estimated the project may cost as much as $A10 billion and deliveries may start in late 2012 or early 2013.
This follows a recent report that the Gorgon partners – Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell – are reviewing the budget and schedule for their huge project, also located in northern WA.
Ichthys and Gorgon are among at least eight potential large greenfields LNG ventures planned for Australia. In addition, two more have been planned for Papua New Guinea, a second train has been mooted for the existing Darwin LNG project, and several mini LNG projects have also been planned.
Late last year, a report by JP Morgan found that it would not be possible to bring all of Australasia's proposed LNG projects onstream in their planned timeframes.
As many as half of the proposed projects could be delayed beyond 2015 given constraints on customer demand for liquefied natural gas and the supply of skilled labour, according to the analyst and broking firm.
The report found there were not enough skills and labour to develop all the proposed projects, particularly in WA home to the largest LNG development proposals.
JP Morgan oil and gas analyst, Mark Greenwood, who co-authored the report, said there was capacity for only one greenfields LNG project in WA every two years.
Four projects are vying for the next available slot in 2012 – Pluto 2, Gorgon, Ichthys and Browse. But only one of those projects will fit into that window, pushing the rest into other slots in 2014 and beyond.
