Japan’s Inpex was awarded on Monday a 5% stake in the 40-year Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) concession, marking the first time the Japanese oil company has received a production share in one of Abu Dhabi’s oilfields.
Inpex signed the agreement through its subsidiary JODCO Onshore joining France’s Total which was the first International Oil Company to be awarded a stake in the concesison.
The ADCO concesison covers 15 onshore oilfields and have production capacity of 1.6mn barrels of oil a day, with plans to reach 1.8mn by 2017.
After the deals with Inpex and Total, Abu Dhabi is yet to award the remaining 25% stake earmarked for foreign oil firms.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell are believed to be the two major contenders for the fields but reports have suggested that the the two firms have been struggling to meet Abu Dhabi’s demand for a hefty sign-on fee of $2.2bn.
According to sources Inpex agreed to pay $1.1bn for the 5% stake, The Wall Stret Journal has reported. China’s National Petroleum Corporation is also thought to have placed a bid.
Japan’s industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa said on Monday that the newly obtained share would contribute much to Japan’s energy security.
Tokyo has been in talks with Abu Dhabi for years to secure the stake as part of its efforts to increase oil output from projects in which Japanese companies have stakes.
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