Japanese oil firm Inpex has divested its 40.1% participating interest in Block PDL3 (production bock) in Papua New Guinea to Kumul Petroleum Holdings (KPHL).
The stake was held by Southern Highlands Petroleum, in which Inpex holds a 10% share. Other investors of Southern Highlands have also agreed to the proposal.
Through investing in Southern Highlands, Inpex purchased shares in the production block in 1990.
Inpex is involved in production and operation activities in the SE Gobe Oil Field, which spans the production block and the adjacent Block PDL4. SE Gobe Oil Field is said to be unitized in 1998.
Currently, Inpex has around 70 projects in more than 20countries, including Australia’s Ichthys LNG project as operator.
The company carries out operations in Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Eurasia, Americas, as well as Middle East and Africa
In Japan, the firm is involved in the operations of the Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field.
After processing, the natural gas from the field is transported through an about 1,400km trunk pipeline network stretching across the Kanto and Koshinetsu regions that surround the greater Tokyo metropolitan area and supplied to city gas companies and industrial customers along this network.
KPHL is a Papua New Guinea’s national oil and gas company (NOC), which was operating as a commercial entity with its core commercial interest in the PNG LNG project.
Through its subsidiary Kumul Petroleum (PNG LNG), KPHL has 16.57% equity stake in the $19bn PNG LNG project.