Inpex Holdings Inc., operator of the proposed A$12 billion ($11.7 billion) Ichthys liquefied natural gas venture in Australia, said capital costs for this type of venture have become ``breathtaking.''

Access to resources for these projects is ``hyper competitive,'' Sean Kildare, general manager of external affairs at the Japanese company's Inpex Browse unit, said today at a conference in Darwin.

Tokyo-based Inpex, Japan's biggest oil explorer, and partner Total SA in May started seeking environmental approval to build the Ichthys LNG project in Darwin, while their earlier application for approval for a preferred site on an uninhabited island off the northwest coast is still pending. The Maret Island plan is being opposed by environmental groups and needs consent from local indigenous people, while the Darwin site is government-approved for gas developments.

Inpex will decide on the Ichthys project site during this year's northern hemisphere summer, with a final estimate of costs by late 2009.

Australian energy production growth will be led by LNG, with exports of the fuel set to jump by more than 7 percent a year through 2030, the government's commodities forecaster said in December.

The government's draft emissions trading plan aimed at reducing carbon unveiled this week is a ``key risk'' for LNG projects, Kildare said.