Japan’s Inpex Boosts US Gulf of Mexico Position with Exxon Mobil Deal

Inpex Corp. agreed to beef up its holdings in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in a recent transaction with Exxon Mobil Corp.

Japan’s largest exploration and production company, Inpex said in a Feb. 2 release it had acquired a portion (2.3546%) of the participating interest (23.29512%) in the Lucius and Hadrian North fields previously held by Exxon Mobil. Inpex did not disclose the terms of its deal with Exxon Mobil, but noted in the company release that the impact of the transaction on its consolidated financial results is minimal.

Located offshore Louisiana in the Keathley Canyon Block of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Lucius and Hadrian North fields are both under the operatorship of Occidental Petroleum Corp. The acquisition announced on Feb. 2 increases Inpex’s participating interest in the fields to 10.10769% from 7.75309%.

Inpex had previously purchased a participating interest in the Keathley Canyon Block, where the two fields are located, from Anadarko Petroleum in 2019 while Anadarko was in the process of being acquired by Occidental Petroleum.

According to the Feb. 2 release, Inpex ranks as a mid-tier E&P player, just behind the world’s oil majors, and even though Inpex is currently involved in about 70 projects across more than 20 countries, the company said it considers the U.S. GoM as one of its priority exploration areas.

In the release, Inpex said: “Inpex’s acquisition of additional interest in the Lucius and Hadrian North fields contributes to the sustainable growth of oil and natural gas E&P activities, one of the business targets outlined in the company’s Vision 2040 announced in May 2018. Inpex will continue to actively take part in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico.”

The Lucius Field is located approximately 380 km offshore Louisiana, where the water is approximately 2,200 m deep. Production of crude oil and natural gas at the Lucius Field commenced in January 2015.

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

According to the Inpex release, the crude oil and natural gas produced from the two fields are processed at a production facility positioned offshore with a processing capacity of approximately 80,000 bbl/d of crude oil and 4.5 MMcf/d of natural gas. From there, production is then transported and shipped to an onshore facility in the State of Louisiana via subsea pipelines.