TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Inpex Corp plans to conduct scheduled maintenance at its Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Darwin, Australia, from around July 1 to Aug. 5, a company spokesperson said on Friday.

The company declined to comment on shipment plans during the maintenance period, but it had shipped a total of eight LNG cargoes and two condensate cargoes during the maintenance period last year between May and June, the spokesperson said.

Inpex, Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer, expects Ichthys to ship about 10 LNG cargoes and one to two condensate cargoes a month this year, he added. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)