Japan-based Inpex Holdings Inc. is set to construct a new LNG import terminal at Joetsu in Niigata Prefecture in NW Japan. To be located in the city’s Naoetsu port area, the USD 675 million facility would feature two 180,000m3 storage tanks and a marine jetty able to accommodate large LNG carriers. Teikoku Oil, an Inpex subsidiary, already has natural gas pipelines in Joetsu, with links across Honshu island to the distribution network serving Tokyo. A final decision on whether or not to proceed with the import terminal scheme is expected shortly. The intention is to bring the facility into operation by 2013, initially handling approximately 0.6 million tonnes per annum but likely to build to the 2mta mark relatively quickly. At the same time that Inpex is considering the construction of the Joetsu import terminal, it is also working toward a final investment decision on its proposed Ichthys LNG export project in NW Australia. That decision is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008. Ichthys calls for the construction of an LNG export terminal, by 2012, on an island in Western Australia’s Kimberley region some 200km from the Ichthys offshore field.
