Inpex gearing up for offshore drilling project in Japan

Japan’s Inpex has established a domestic exploratory drilling operations office, through which it will manage a drilling project offshore Japan.

The company has made the move in order to support the Heisei 26~28 offshore drilling project commissioned by Japan’s Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in July 2015.

INPEX is currently undergoing preparation work ahead of the exploratory well drilling offshore Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures scheduled to begin in May 2016.

The office, established by Inpex for this purpose, will be set up in Hamada city, Shimane Prefecture. Toru Akutsu will take over as the General Manager of the office starting mid-January 2016.

As for the drilling project, the objective is to determine the presence of hydrocarbon deposits and conduct geological studies.

The exploratory well will be drilled in a location offshore Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures where in 2011, the Japanese government conducted a geophysical survey from the seismic survey vessel Shigen as part of its domestic oil and natural gas exploration project, and where INPEX conducted a 3D geophysical survey in 2013 based on the earlier survey.

The aim of the project, should it unearth viable quantities of hydrocarbons, is to decrease Japan’s dependence on energy imports.

Offshore Energy Today Staff