Falling gas pressure changes the work at INPEX’s LNG project.
INPEX produces and sells oil and natural gas. It operates the Ichthys project in Australia, which shipped 112 LNG cargoes on a whole-project basis in FY2025 (January 1–December 31, 2025). Following the monthly shipments reveals the work of stopping and maintaining equipment, and the longer-term challenge of recovering gas from underground.
Beyond the equipment, the conditions for recovering gas change
Connecting reservoir gas to LNG loading
At Ichthys, the offshore upstream business supplies feed gas to the downstream business, which buys it for processing and sale.
Upstream: offshore production
Offshore Central Processing Facility (CPF)
Gas-bearing reservoirPressure falls as gas is produced
Feed gas→Supply → purchase
Downstream: buy gas, process and sell
Gas export pipeline
LiquefyStoreLoad
Plan disclosed on
Adapt the CPF to a lower inlet pressure
BCM connection and commissioning scheduled in phases from September 2026.
Intended after commissioning: lower CPF inlet pressure to recover additional gas even at lower reservoir pressure.
LNG-focused schematic; equipment locations, shapes and counts are not an engineering layout. It does not show BCM connection, commissioning or benefits as completed.
Maintenance, pressure adaptation and future feed gas involve different stages and time horizons.
Operating IchthysFrom underground gas to liquefaction and loading
Maintain equipmentThe 2025 planned maintenance and restart
Adapt to lower pressurePlanned BCM tie-ins and commissioning before lowering inlet pressure
Evaluate future feed gasNearby resources and Beetaloo as potential supply
This map places completed work alongside plans and evaluations. It does not show BCM benefits or future feed-gas supply as already achieved.
Connect the installed equipment, then change the operating mode
The August presentation also scheduled an approximately 1.5-month shutdown from mid-July 2027, mainly to inspect LNG Train 1. The 2026 BCM connection work and the later equipment inspection have distinct purposes within the operating calendar.
Which gas will feed the onshore plant in the future?
THE VIEW AFTER THE NUMBERS
What the numbers suggest
Ichthys’ 112 LNG cargoes in 2025 record shipments from a year of maintaining, restarting and supplying the system. Sustaining that operation also requires equipment to adapt as production changes conditions in the reservoir.
Lowering inlet pressure with the BCM, making room for connection and commissioning work, and assessing future feed gas are at different stages. The work scheduled from September in the August 7, 2026 disclosure remains a plan at that reporting date.
Maintaining the equipment and adapting how gas is recovered together shape the project’s operating life. Following the shipment figures back to reservoir pressure makes INPEX’s long-running work on one LNG system more concrete.
In the year ended March 2026, Mitsui Fudosan reported ¥2,709.7bn in group revenue and ¥397.8bn in operating profit. Its segments recorded revenue of ¥936.6bn from Leasing, ¥729.3bn from Property Sales, ¥511.5bn from Management and ¥244.1bn from Facility Operations; Other contributed another ¥288.3bn. Leasing was larger in revenue than Property Sales, yet Property Sales business income (¥193.2bn) exceeded Leasing (¥177.0bn) this year. The company-defined business income and consolidated operating profit are different accounting measures and require adjustments. From its origin in property management in 1941 through 1968 skyscraper and 1981 shopping-center development to a 2001 J-REIT, Mitsui Fudosan widened not just its assets but how it earns from them.
