Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Kazuhisa Nakano) announces that its subsidiary, Idemitsu Snorre Oil Development Co., Ltd.* (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Yasuhiro Haba) participated in the annual licensing round, Awards in Predefined Area of 2009 (APA 2009), implemented by the Norwegian government in September 2009 through its Norwegian subsidiary Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (IPN; President: Kosuke Tsuji) and subsequently has been awarded two licenses (A part of Block 31/2 under PL090E and a part of Block 34/7 under PL552) on January 19.

* Shareholders: Idemitsu Oil and gas Co., Ltd. (50.5%), Osaka Gas Summit Resources (49.5%)

The two awarded licenses are located in the North Sea next to the Snorre and Fram fields respectively where IPN is currently producing crude oil and gas and it is anticipated that this award will lead to the discovery of new oil and gas fields.

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Overview of Licenses

Name PL090E
(Pat of 31/2)
PL552
(Part of 34/7)
Location South of the Fram field East of the Snorre field
Participating Interests
●Operator
Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (IPN) 15% Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (IPN) 12.5%
●Statoil 45% ●Statoil 53.9%
ExxonMobil 25% RWE-Dea 3.6%
GDF Suez 15% Petoro 30.0%
Size of Area Approximately 15km2 Approximately 156km2
Water Depth Approximately 350m Approximately 300m
Duration of License Until 2024 (Same as PL090) 4 years
Work Responsibilities
(First Exploration Period)
None One exploratory well within two years

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For inquiries regarding this press release, please contact

Mr. Yamada
PR Section IR&PR Office
Idemitsu Kosan, Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81-3-3213-3115