Inpex beefs up Lucius stake

Japan’s Inpex has increased its stake in the Lucius field, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The company announced that its subsidiary Teikoku Oil acquired an additional participating interest the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico project.

Following this acquisition and the interim redetermination of equity ownership by the project partners, INPEX’s participating interest in the Lucius project stands at 7.75309%

INPEX’s increased participating interest follows the May 2014 decision by Apache Corporation (Apache) to sell all its participating interest in the project, amounting to 11.669%, to Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas. In accordance with the Lucius Unit Operating Agreement (UOA), Apache opened its sales offer to all interest holders. INPEX and other interest holders exercised preferential rights, dividing Apache’s interest between the three companies by the ratio of their participating interests.

Related: Freeport-McMoRan wraps up $919M Gulf of Mexico acquisition

The Lucius project, which includes portions of Keathley Canyon blocks 874, 875, 918 and 919, is located approximately 380 km southwest of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, where the water is approximately 2,160 m deep. The Lucius partners made a Final Investment Decision (FID) to develop the project in December 2011.

Development work is ongoing and production is scheduled to start in the latter half of this year. To date, INPEX has been involved in several oil and gas projects in the shallow waters of the US Gulf of Mexico, and also participates in exploration and production (E&P) activities in the Walker Ridge 95/96/139 Blocks in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.