According to a Bloomberg report today, Tokyo Electric is also considering buying equity in Inpex.

Inpex has said it was looking for investors to join its wholly owned $US6 billion ($A8.1 billion) Ichthys LNG project, located in permit WA-285-P in Western Australia’s Browse Basin.

Japan’s cashed-up power utilities are increasingly acquiring stakes in oil and gas developments worldwide.

Tokyo Electric also told Bloomberg it was considering increasing its purchases from the ConocoPhillips-operated Darwin LNG project.

Darwin LNG is currently a 3.3 million tonne a year LNG project, but it has been approved for exports of up to 10Mtpa.

ConocoPhillips and Darwin LNG partner Santos are undertaking an aggressive Timor Sea exploration program aimed finding more gas to underpin expansion of the facility.