Japanese oil company INPEX, through its subsidiary INPEX Norge, has won two Norwegian offshore licenses – PL 1130 and PL 1129 as part of Norway’s Awards in Pre-defined Areas 2020 licensing round (APA 2020 licensing round).

PL 1130 is contained in the Nyk High region of the northern Norwegian Sea. On the other hand, the PL 1129 license is located in the Skoll High region of the north-western Norwegian Sea.

Located nearly 250 kilometers offshore Norway, PL 1130 spans an area of nearly 940 square kilometers where the water depth is in the range of 600-1,600 meters.

The PL 1129 license is spread over an area of around 4,010 square kilometers and is contained in a water depth of nearly 1,250 meters. It is located around 400 kilometers offshore Norway.

Both the licenses awarded to INPEX during the APA 2020 licensing round are located in the Vøring Basin.

INPEX wins PL 1130 and PL 1129 licenses in Norway’s APA 2020 round. Image courtesy of INPEX CORPORATION.

The Japanese oil company said that the two licenses provide the groundwork for its third and fourth exploration projects in the European country.

The exploration of the PL 1130 license marks the first operator project for the Japanese oil producer in Norway.

INPEX will work on formalizing the licenses with the Norwegian government authorities, and also the PL 1130 partners, and the PL 1129 operator and partners. This will be before the company explores the possibility of discovering hydrocarbon deposits via targeted exploration operations.

The Japanese company stated: “The acquisition of these licenses is aligned with INPEX’s pursuit of the “sustainable growth of oil and natural gas E&P activities,” one of the growth targets outlined in the company’s “VISION 2040” announced in May 2018.”

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