Japan’s Inpex is in final talks to obtain a 5% share in the Abu Dhabi concession for $1.1bn, public broadcaster NHK said on Monday.
Inpex was among 11 international oil companies that bid for stakes in the concession covering the UAE’s 15 principal onshore fields with a combined production of about 1.6mn barrels per day, NHK reported.
The previous 75-year concesison for the fields expired on 10th of January 2014 and Abu Dhabi has led talks with a number of foreign oil firms, some of which held stakes in the old concesison.
France’s Total, which made the most competitive bid accoridng to reprots, was the first company to renew its contract, winning a 10% stake, this time for 40 years.Â
Inpex did not have a previous stake in the concession, but the two countries have been working closely to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector.
In January, during an official visit, Japan’s Trade Minister Yoichi Miyazawa urged ADNOC’s director general Abdullah Nasser al-Suwaidi to renew oil concessions held by all Japanese companies.
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