Japanese firm gets rid of its interest in two deepwater Gulf of Mexico fields

Japanese oil and gas company Inpex has gotten rid of its interest in two fields located in the deepwater of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by transferring it to project partners.

Inpex revealed on Thursday it has transferred its entire participating interest (10.10769 per cent) in the Lucius field located in the US Gulf of Mexico’s Keathley Canyon blocks 874, 875, 918 and 919 and the Hadrian North field located in KC blocks 918 and 919 to Anadarko US Offshore (a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum), Murphy Exploration & Production, and Eni Petroleum US.

Inpex joined the Lucius Project in June 2012 and has been engaged in the development, production and marketing of crude oil and natural gas under the operatorship of Anadarko. Inpex brought its interest in the project up to over 10 per cent in February 2021 after acquiring a portion of the participating interest in the fields previously held by ExxonMobil.

However, with a view to optimising the group’s global asset portfolio, Inpex has now reached a decision to transfer its entire participating interest in the Lucius Project to the project partners.

The Lucius field is located approximately 380 kilometres offshore the State of Louisiana, where the water is approximately 2,200 meters deep. The project started its first production in January 2015.

The Hadrian North field, which lies in the vicinity of Lucius, was unitized with Lucius in 2017 and thereafter has been jointly developed using the Lucius field’s production facilities. Production of crude oil and natural gas at the Hadrian North field started in April 2019.

The crude oil and natural gas produced from the two fields are processed at a production facility positioned offshore with a daily processing capacity of approximately 80,000 barrels of crude oil and approximately 4.5 million cubic feet of natural gas, transported and shipped to an onshore facility in the State of Louisiana via subsea pipelines.