INDONESIA - Inpex Operations.

Inpex Holdings Inc of Japan is Total's partner in East Kalimantan and has interests in other parts of Indonesia (gmt10IndnsFieldsMar7-05). Inpex on Oct. 18, 2006, was quoted by Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper as saying it was to drill several wells at four locations in eastern Indonesia to identify viable gas fields which could help resource-poor Japan reduce its reliance on Middle East oil. The company had identified a gas deposit to feed as much as 3-5m tons/year of LNG in an eastern Indonesian field in the Timor Sea. Inpex spokesman Kazuya Honda then said the company needed to do further drilling to verify the reserves before deciding on full-scale development. He said the company was to invest ?500 bn ($4.2 bn) for the project by 2015 after submitting a production plan to the Indonesian government in 2008 for approval. Undersea pipelines will carry the gas to a plant near the north Australian city of Darwin where it will be converted into LNG.

The plan followed Inpex's announcement earlier in October 2006 of a cut of its stake in Iran's Azadegan oilfield from 75% to about 10% due to slow progress in removing landmines from the area. Honda said the project in Indonesia was not to make up for the deficit at Azadegan. Inpex plans to sign contracts with Japanese utility companies as well as Asian, European and US firms to buy the LNG. It will ask major international oil concerns to help develop the field.