French energy major Total has signed an agreement to divest a 4% stake in the Ichthys LNG export project in Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia) for a total consideration of US$1.6bn, thus reducing its interest in the asset from 30% to 26%. The transaction is subject to Australian regulatory approvals and is in line with the group's strategy. Ichthys LNG has experienced major cost overruns and delays during their construction phase and Total decided to review and optimize its capital allocation.
The LNG project will market reserves of more than 3 Gboe located offshore Australia, including 500 mbl of condensate. The terminal includes two trains of 4.45 Mt/year each (total capacity of 8.9 Mt/year) and can also produce 1.65 Mt/year of LPG and 100,000 bbl/d of condensate. LNG exports started in October 2018. As of December 2018, the two LNG trains are now fully operational.
Ichthys LNG is led by Inpex (66.245%) and Total (26%), while the remaining stakes are spread between the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corporation (2.625%), Tokyo Gas (1.575%), Osaka Gas (1.2%), Kansai Electric Power (1.2%), JERA (0.735%) and Toho Gas (0.42%).