Inpex, Total Seal LNG Sales Pacts For Australian Project

Inpex Corp. (1605.TO) and Total SA (TOT) have finalized sales agreements with customers in Japan and Taiwan for their proposed Ichthys gas-export project in northern Australia, the country's resources minister Martin Ferguson said Tuesday.

The agreements to provide Taiwan's CPC Corp. and Japan's Chubu Electric Power Co. (9505.TO) and Toho Co. (8142.TO) with liquefied natural gas were first announced in June.

Ferguson said the initial agreements were converted into binding sales and purchase agreements at a signing ceremony in Melbourne Tuesday.

Inpex and Total have also agreed to sell LNG from the project to another five Japanese utilities and are close to making a final investment decision on the project's construction.

In 2008, Inpex estimated that Ichthys would cost US$20 billion to build, but this is likely to be revised higher when the project is sanctioned. Citigroup in June estimated Ichthys will cost US$32.5 billion.

Inpex said in June it has agreed to sell to CPC 1.75 million metric tons a year of LNG from the project for 15 years commencing 2017. It also said it had agreed to sell Chubu Electric 490,000 tons a year and Toho 280,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for Inpex wasn't immediately available for comment Tuesday.

-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; [e-mail]