INPEX Corporation is a Japanese
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
company established in February 1966 as North Sumatra Offshore Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.
[The Japan Time]
Inpex fetches 549,000 yen in debut on first section November 18 2004
Retrieved on August 14, 2012 INPEX is the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in Japan, with global exploration, development and production projects in 20 countries.
[INPEX 2019 Annual Report](_blank)
/ref> In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000
The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published annually since 2003.
By country
Forbes Global 2000 as of 2023:
...
, INPEX was ranked as the 597th -largest public company in the world.
Public listing
INPEX was listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan.
The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...
on November 17, 2004 when the indebted Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC), now part of the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation which owned a 53.96% stake in INPEX, put up for sale 343,725 shares (17.9 percent of INPEX's 1.92 million outstanding shares). At the time, 18.9 percent of the company was owned by METI
Meti is a town in south-western Ethiopia, located in Godere woreda of the Gambela Region
The Gambela Region, also spelled Gambella, and officially the Gambela Peoples' Region (), is a regional state in western Ethiopia. Previously known as ...
.[ It was the second of JNOC's subsidiaries to go public, after the Japan Petroleum Exploration Company in December 2003.]
Merger
As a result of a government-orchestrated merger, INPEX Corporation and Teikoku Oil agree to form INPEX Holdings on April 3, 2006. On October 1, 2008, the merger was completed with Inpex Corporation being formed from INPEX Holdings, INPEX, and Teikoku Oil, and the headquarters were moved to Akasaka, Tokyo
is a residential and commercial district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, located west of the government center in Nagatachō and north of the Roppongi district.
Akasaka (including the neighboring area of Aoyama) was a ward of Tokyo City from 1878 t ...
.
The Mahakam Bloc, the original INPEX's first site, was nationalized by the Government of Indonesia
The term Government of the Republic of Indonesia (, GOI, sometimes also referred to as Government of Indonesia or the Central Government () especially in laws) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively ...
in 2018, and is currently operated by Pertamina.
Teikoku Oil
Teikoku Oil Company Ltd was founded as a semi-governmental company to unify the existing Japanese oil exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
V ...
companies in 1941.
*1950 Commerced development at Yabase oil field, Akita, Japan
*1959 Kubiki oil and gas field commenced production
*1962 Completed Japan's first long-distance natural gas pipeline between Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
and Niigata Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...
*1965 Completed development at Minami-Aga oil field
*1970 Higashi-Kashiwazaki gas field commenced production
*1975 Completed development of overseas project at Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
*1980 West Bakr block of Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
commenced production (sold in 2012 after cumulative production of approximately 50 million barrels of oil)
Staff
In the fiscal year 2011 the company had 2,146 staff, with 784 temporary employees.[Inpex websit]
NOTICE OF THE 6th ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS p.39 June 4 2012
Retrieved on August 17, 2012 As at 31 December 2019, INPEX had 3,117 employees on a consolidated basis.
As of March 31, 2010, the INPEX Labor Union has 1,030 members. The company has a labor-management council and regular meetings are held.
Projects
Operations in Japan
The main focus of the company's operations in Japan is the Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field in Niigata Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...
. INPEX also operates the Naoetsu LNG receiving terminal in Niigata and a natural gas pipeline network of approximately 1,500 km to connect to gas customers within Japan.
Ichthys
INPEX created a venture company called INPEX Browse, Ltd on 1 September 1998. This was for a previously wholly owned INPEX project in the offshore Basin off the north west coast of Western Australia where a gas-field was discovered in the WA-285-P permit area. The official name of the proposed development project was to be the Ichthys (gas-field) Development, which the company wanted to base on the Maret Islands. After farming out 24% of the permit ownership to Total S.A.
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorat ...
's subsidiary Total E&P Australia the concept and location was changed.
The location of this project, and the issue of industrialising the Kimberley coast was under discussion in Australia at the time. Environmentalists and local ecotourism operators ware concerned about industrial infrastructure destroying the pristine nature of this coast line.
The original project consisted of an offshore Central Processing Facilities (CPF), supplying two phase gas to an onshore facility on the Maret Islands. The facilities on the Maret Islands were to include gas receiving, LNG process plant (2 x 3.8Mtpa trains), product storage and export facilities. The Maret Islands are located approximately 200 km south-east of the Ichthys Field, which is approx. 440 km north of Broome and 800 km south west of Darwin.
The project for the LNG plant to be located on the isolated Maret Islands was scrapped with the LNG
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
Plant now to be built at Bladin Point industrial site which is located on the Middle Arm Peninsula in Darwin, Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
, with a pipeline from the lchthys Field to the LNG Plant, after regulatory delays in Western Australia.
The Ichthys Project's Front-End Engineering Design ( FEED) was completed in April 2011. Final Investment Decision (FID) was announced on 13 January 2012.
In January 2012 INPEX said the 8.4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) project near Darwin will cost about $34 billion, some 60 per cent more than INPEX's original estimate of $20 billion.
INPEX said it and French energy company Total, its joint venture partner, had given the final approval to the project. Total had expressed interest in increasing its stake in the project from 24% to 30%, and negotiations between the two companies were underway.
The project was estimated to contribute $3.5 billion into the Australian economy each year, and require around 2,700 workers during peak construction, and another 300 jobs ongoing once it is operational.
The EPC early works phase, such as commencement of site development, infrastructure works and accommodation village and dredging began in 2012. LNG Production in the magnitude of app. 8.4mtpa is projected to be online by fourth quarter of 2016. The first shipment from the Ichthys LNG plant was made in October 2018.
Abadi
The Abadi gas field is a natural gas field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...
located in the Arafura Sea
The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea.
Geography
The Arafura Sea is ...
in Tanimbar
The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...
, Mollucas, Indonesia. Inpex discovered it in 2000 when the Abadi-1 exploratory well was drilled, and then developed it. This marked the first discovery of crude oil and natural gas in the Arafura Sea.
In November 2008, INPEX acquired a 100 per cent participating interest in the Masela Block in Indonesia.
A development plan was submitted to the Indonesian government and subsequently approved. Preparatory measures for Front-End Engineering Design were in place in 2011. In 2012, production of natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
and condensates was expected to begin in 2015. The total proven reserves
Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Abadi gas field were around 10 trillion cubic feet (242 billion m3), and production was slated to be around 974 million cubic feet/day (2.74 million m3) in 2015.
In 2017 the company was ready to start the Pre FEED phase and hold a joint workshop with SKK Migas.
Eurasia region
INPEX is a minority shareholder in the Kashagan Field in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
and the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project, offshore Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
in the Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
.
See also
* List of gas fields in Indonesia
References
External links
INPEX Corporation
INPEX Australia - Browse Project
{{Authority control
Oil companies based in Tokyo
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1966
1966 establishments in Japan
Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Companies in the Nikkei 225