The Inpex Corporation-led Ichthys LNG project in the Northern Territory has marked a major construction milestone with the arrival of six pre-fabricated modules weighing about 7500 tonnes combined.

The two shipments from STP&I and AG&P on March 17 and 28 rounded out first deliveries from all four of the yards that are fabricating equipment for the project’s onshore liquefaction plant.

Ichthys managing director Louis Bon said the onshore LNG facilities under construction at Bladin Point near Darwin had transformed since the first module delivery in mid-2014.

“With first arrivals from STP&I and AG&P, we’ve now seen nearly 60 large prefabricated modules delivered safely to site,” he said.

“Many of these modules have been safely installed and many more are soon to be delivered, so we’re on schedule and very pleased with the progress.”

Bon said some of the modules, which were very large assemblies of structural, piping and mechanical equipment, measured around 90m in length and weighed the equivalent of 3600 family cars.

The pre-fabricated modules are key components of the project’s LNG processing facilities, which will eventually produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum.

The modules are being built at four fabrication yards – one in China, one in the Philippines and two in Thailand – with about 60 shipments of more than 200 modules needed to construct the project’s onshore liquefaction plant.

Tokyo-based Inpex will bring the US$34 billion Ichthys project online in late 2016, almost five years after a final investment decision was made at the beginning of 2012.

Lauren Barrett can be reached on lbarrett@hartenergy.com