With new offshore block in the bag, Inpex gearing up for hydrocarbon exploration ops in Australia

Inpex Browse E&P, a subsidiary of Japan’s energy company Inpex Corporation, has won a license allowing it to search for hydrocarbons in a block off the northern coast of Western Australia as part of the country’s 2022 offshore petroleum exploration acreage release.

Thanks to the award, Inpex Browse will hold a 100% working interest and act as the operator of release area AC22-1, now named AC/P71. The block covers approximately 920 square kilometers, in water depths of 100–300 meters. The Japanese player intends to engage in exploration activities in line with the license obligations.

The area’s location is considered promising due to the proximity of two other blocks. The first one is the AC/RL7 retention lease where natural gas and condensate fields have been discovered. Inpex acquired a 74% interest in it from PTTEP in 2023. 

The second is the Ichthys gas-condensate field, which supplies natural gas to the Ichthys LNG project. A joint venture (JV) between Inpex and Total Energies as majority stakeholders, several Japanese firms, and CPC, Ichthys is described as “one of the world’s most complex liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.” 

Encompassing deep offshore production facilities, two floating production units, a gas pipeline, and a liquefaction plant, its annual LNG production capacity is 8.9 million metric tons.

The Japanese firm aims to achieve a stable supply of clean energy by focusing on core business areas, implementing a shift to natural gas, and promoting resilience and decarbonizing its business in an integrated manner, as outlined in its INPEX Vision @2022 from February 2022.

A recent example of its decarbonization efforts was the agreement inked with JERA to look into establishing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain from Japan to Australia, which would entail capturing CO2 in Japan and transporting it to Australia for storage. 

As Ichthys LNG aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it would be a natural user of this CCS solution.