INPEX has spilled oil into Darwin Harbour, exposed offshore workers to dangerous mercury, and been prosecuted for under-reporting toxic emissions by more than 100-fold, all in the past 12 months.
A letter from the US miner raised hope that the jarrah forest inland from Perth would escape its strip mining for bauxite, but Alcoa is keeping its options open.
Casual workers taken off Ichthys offshore facilities by Inpex will be paid at least until next week under a standby deal similar to workers from the troubled Prelude LNG vessel.
Inpex’s Ichthys LNG project will cost $53 billion, $8 billion more than planned, and may not see substantial production until early next year in a blow to the Japanese operator that is waiting on the Darwin plant to more than double its cashflow.
The $US37 billion Ichthys LNG project is on track to start up next March as its two giant vessels moored about 200km off the Kimberley are readied for production.
The Inpex-led Ichthys LNG project will export $195 billion of LNG, LPG and condensate over 30 years but it will not pay Australia anything for the gas it extracts.
