Inpex to acquire interest in exploration license PL767 in western Barents Sea
TOKYO -- Inpex has announced that through its subsidiary Inpex Norge AS, it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 40% participating interest in exploration license PL767 located in the western Barents Sea, offshore the Kingdom of Norway from Bayerngas Norge. Inpex’s acquisition of this participating interest will hand the company its first ever project in Norway, and is expected to contribute to the further enhancement of Inpex’s global project portfolio.
The License is located in the western Barents Sea approximately 120 km offshore Norway and covers a surface area of 211 km2 where the water depth ranges between approximately 300 and 400 m.
Location of License PL767
Following the required administrative procedures involving Norwegian government authorities and Lundin Norway, which is the operator of the License and a subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum, Inpex will continue to assess the possibility of discovering hydrocarbon deposits through exploration activities.
Since the 1960s, oil and natural gas exploration activities have abounded particularly in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, resulting in the discovery of numerous large-scale oil and gas fields. Thereafter, exploration activities have expanded north to the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. In recent years, oil and gas fields estimated to hold several hundred million barrels of oil equivalent have been discovered in succession in the Barents Sea, which is considered to be a promising area where further hydrocarbon discoveries are believed possible.
Through Inpex Norge AS, which it established in 2014, Inpex will continue to proactively pursue full-scale oil and natural gas exploration and development activities in Norway.
The impact of this acquisition on the company’s consolidated financial results is expected to be minimal.
