INPEX announced today that, through its subsidiary INPEX Norge AS, it has been awarded two licenses, PL 1130 located in the Nyk High area of the northern Norwegian Sea and PL 1129 located in the Skoll High area of the north-western Norwegian Sea, both in the Vøring Basin offshore the Kingdom of Norway, as part of the Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA) 2020 licensing round. The annual APA licensing rounds aim to promote the further exploration in previously explored areas, by allowing tenders to be submitted for any acreage within predefined areas where production licenses have not been awarded or where previous licenses have been surrendered. 

The licenses provide the groundwork for INPEX’s third and fourth exploration projects in Norway (fifth and sixth, including surrendered licenses) and are expected to contribute to the further enhancement of INPEX’s global project portfolio. The exploration of PL 1130 will be the first Operator project for INPEX in Norway.

INPEX will next follow the required administrative procedures to formalise the licenses involving Norwegian government authorities, as well as the PL 1130 partners and the PL 1129 operator and partners, prior to assessing the possibility of discovering hydrocarbon deposits through targeted exploration activities.

License PL 1130 is located in the northern Norwegian Sea, approximately 250 kilometres offshore Norway and covers a surface area of approximately 940 square kilometres where the water depth is between 600 and1,600 metres.

License PL 1129 is located in the north-western Norwegian Sea, approximately 400 kilometres offshore Norway and covers a surface area of approximately 4,010 square kilometres where the water depth is approximately 1,250 metres.

Oil and natural gas exploration activities in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea began in the 1960s, resulting in the discovery of numerous large-scale oil and gas fields. Thereafter, exploration has expanded north to the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. As a result of exploration activities mainly since the 1990s, oil and gas fields estimated to hold reserves of several hundred million barrels of oil equivalent have been discovered in the Norwegian Sea, where production activities are already taking place. The Norwegian Sea is a promising area where further hydrocarbon discoveries are expected.

The acquisition of these licenses is aligned with INPEX’s pursuit of the “sustainable growth of oil and natural gas E&P activities,” one of the growth targets outlined in the company’s “VISION 2040” announced in May 2018.

Through INPEX Norge AS, which was established in 2014, INPEX will continue its proactive pursuit of full-scale oil and natural gas exploration and development activities in Norway.

The cost impact of this award on the company’s consolidated financial results is minimal.

KeyFacts Energy: INPEX Norway country profile