Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiko Tembo) announces that its subsidiary, Idemitsu Snorre Oil Development Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Osamu Kamimae)* participated in the 20th Licensing Round (79 licenses announced) implemented by the Norwegian government in July 2008 through its Norwegian subsidiary Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (President: Kosuke Tsuji) and subsequently acquired interest of three production licenses on April 30, 2009.
* Shareholders: Idemitsu Oil & Gas Co., Ltd. (50.5%), Osaka Gas Summit Resources (49.5%)
The three licenses acquired are located in the Barents Sea (PL537), the Norwegian Sea (PL522) and the northern North Sea (PL318C). Licenses in the Barents and Norwegian Seas are located in a frontier area where there are relatively few exploration activities. Additionally, the license in the northern North Sea is located in the northern extension of the Peon structure (PL318) where gas accumulation was confirmed in 2005.
Future exploration is scheduled for each license.
Overview of Blocks
| License No. | PL537 | PL522 | PL318C (Conferred as northern extension of PL318) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License location | Barents Sea (Approx. 250km northeast of the Snorvit gas field) | Northwest area of Norwegian Sea | Northern North Sea (Approx. 100km north of the Fram block) | |||
| Participating interests (●Operator) |
Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (IPN) | 20% | Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (IPN) | 20% | Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (IPN) | 20% |
| ●OMV | 40% | ●BG | 40% | ●StatoilHydro | 60% | |
| Spring Energy | 20% | Aker Exploration | 20% | Petoro | 20% | |
| Petoro | 20% | Petoro | 20% | |||
| Size of license | Approx. 594km2 | Approx. 2,050km2 | Approx. 20km2 | |||
| Depth | Approx. 380m | Approx. 1,350m | Approx. 380m | |||
| Exploration period | 5 years | 6 years | Approx. 1 year | |||
| Work Obligations (First Exploration Period) |
Acquisition of seismic data and one exploration drilling | Acquisition of seismic data | Work obligations in Idemitsu-owned PL318 Area (One exploration drilling) | |||
New Window Open<Reference> Locational map of acquired blocks (PDF: 265KB)
For inquiries regarding this press release, please contact
Mr. Yamada
PR Section IR&PR Office
Idemitsu Kosan, Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81-3-3213-3115
