Japan's Inpex to invest 4.2 bln dlrs for gas project in Indonesia
TOKYO (AFP) - Top Japanese energy company Inpex Holdings plans to invest some 500 billion yen (4.22 billion dollars) to develop a natural gas project in Indonesia, a report says. With production expected by 2015, it could help meet Japan's gas needs after Russia recently halted work on the Sakhalin-2 project, developed by British-Dutch oil giant Shell along with Japanese firms Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corp, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Inpex has confirmed a deposit capable of generating three million tons of liquefied natural gas a year in an eastern Indonesian field in the Timor Sea, the newspaper said without citing sources. It will start test drilling at four locations beginning early next year to verify the reserves, then submit a production plan to the Indonesian government in 2008 for approval, it said. Inpex fully owns the project and plans to sign contracts with Japanese utility companies as well as Asian, European and US firms.To defray the risks, it will also ask major international oil concerns to participate in the development, the newspaper said.Inpex will link the field by pipeline to facility near the city of Darwin in northern Australia to convert the natural gas into LNG, which will then be shipped to Japan and other countries, the Nihon Keizai said.Japan imported about 58 million tons of LNG in the year to March 2006.
