Ichthys Project - INPEX

Bill Townsend is General Manager, External Affairs and Joint Venture at INPEX. In this role, Bill is responsible for reputation assurance, managing the company’s government and community relations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement, regulatory approvals and compliance, corporate social responsibility initiatives, communications, media and branding as well as joint venture management. Bill joined INPEX in 2006 and is a member of the Ichthys Project Executive Committee.

Beginning his career as a US Navy submarine officer, Bill entered the oil and gas industry in 1994 as a Business Advisor to BP Russia, based in Moscow. Further commercial and external affairs assignments with BP followed and include the Shah Deniz gas project in Azerbaijan, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project in Georgia as well as additional roles with BP in the Caspian region.

Bill arrived in Australia in 2004 to take up his immediate past role as the Joint Venture Coordination Manager for the North West Shelf Ventures at Woodside Energy. Bill has a BA (Political Science) from Northwestern University, Illinois, and an MBA from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.