JX Acquires 18 New Blocks Offshore UK

JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration Corporation announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, JX Nippon Exploration and Production (U.K.) Limited, has been offered eighteen (18) of the newly awarded blocks in the UKCS 27th Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round, which was closed on May 2012.

Fourteen (14) out of the eighteen (18) blocks, which JXNEPUK has been offered, are located in the West of Shetland (“WOS”) area. In five (5) out of these fourteen (14) blocks, 205/4c, 214/23, 214/24(part), 214/28(part), and 214/29(part), JXNEPUK is an operator. The awarded blocks lie on trend with existing gas discoveries in WOS. JXNEPUK has committed to the drilling of one exploration well in these five operated blocks. JXNEPUK already operates two blocks in WOS area, which are located adjacent to the newly awarded operated blocks.

JXNEPUK has also been awarded four blocks in the Central North Sea, which is the centre of oil and gas exploration in the UK. JX Group already has participating interests in a number of producing oil and gas fields in the Central North Sea.

JX Group has been involved in oil and gas exploration, development and production in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) for nearly twenty years. It is committed to further expanding its activities in the UKCS, which is one of the core areas of the Group’s worldwide upstream business, and to taking a role as an operator.

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Press Release, October 29, 2012