JERA Co Inc has taken delivery of its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Barossa Gas Project in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The Japanese integrated power company owns a 12.5 percent stake in the project, which has developed the Barossa field as a new source for Darwin LNG. Darwin LNG, which began producing LNG 2006, has a declared capacity of 3.7 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa).
“JERA, participating through its subsidiary JERA Australia Pty Ltd, will offtake approximately 425,000 tonnes of LNG per year in line with its equity share [in the Barossa field], and received its first cargo via the LNG carrier Sohshu Maru at JERA’s Futtsu LNG terminal on Friday, June 12th”, JERA said in a press release.
JERA also owns a 6.13 percent stake in the liquefaction plant in Darwin. Darwin LNG’s previous source field, Timor-Leste’s Bayu-Undan, stopped exporting gas to the facility late 2023 due to depletion, according to Barossa and Darwin LNG operator Santos Ltd.
Investment in Barossa, or the Darwin LNG life extension project, reached $3.95 billion, according to a Santos stock filing June 18, 2025. “Australian LNG continues to be an important component of JERA’s increasingly diversified global procurement portfolio”, JERA added. “The Barossa Gas Project is one of the company’s biggest investments in Australia, in addition to the long-standing interest in the Wheatstone LNG Project and major new investment in the Scarborough Gas Field Development – expected to start production later this year”.
The Scarborough project in Western Australia includes the development of the Scarborough field off the coast of Karratha, the construction of a second gas processing train for Pluto LNG with a capacity of 5 MMtpa and modifications to Pluto Train 1, according to operator Woodside Energy Group Ltd.
“Securing stable and competitive LNG supply for Japan, in a highly volatile market, remains JERA’s utmost priority. A diversified global LNG supply allows us to decrease the impact of supply shocks”, said JERA LCF chief operating officer Irtiza Sayye.
“JERA will continue to build resilience across its strong and diversified LNG portfolio, by balancing supply from the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, the United States, and other sources”, the company added.
“It would also leverage integrated value‑chain capabilities spanning the company’s upstream developments to procurement, transportation, and power generation”.