INPEX announces cessation of production at the Griffin oil fields, offshore Western Australia

Monday, Oct 26, 2009

INPEX CORPORATION, through its wholly-owned subsidiary INPEX Alpha, Ltd. (INPEX), announced the cessation of its production at the Griffin oil fields in the WA-10-L, offshore Western Australia on 23 October. The Griffin oil fields were the first Australian project that INPEX participated in from the exploration stage, with the discovery of oil in Griffin-1 which led to commercial production.

The Griffin oil fields are located 62km off the coast of Western Australia, in a water depth of about 130m. They consist of the Griffin oil field, the Scindian oil field and the Chinook oil field. BHP Billiton Petroleum operates the fields with a 45% participating interest while Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd. holds a 35% participating interest and INPEX holds a 20% participating interest.

The Griffin oil fields were first discovered between 1989 and 1990 with oil and gas production commencing in 1994 using a development concept incorporating subsea well infrastructure and a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

In the early stages of the project, the fields attained a production rate of over eighty thousand barrels per day. After 15 years of production, the oil rate before the cessation had reduced to an average of less than four thousand barrels or less per day due to natural depletion. Considering the level of production and associated costs, the Joint Venture decided to cease the production this month prior to the commencement of the cyclone season. Since the start-up of production, the cumulative total production (sales) volume has been 178 million barrels of oil equivalent.

INPEX is continuing to carry out active exploration and development activities in Australia including the Van Gogh oil field development and the Ravensworth oil field development, and the large scale Ichthys project. INPEX is also conducting production activities in the Bayu-Undan gas/condensate field in an area jointly administrated by Timor Leste and Australia and the operations of the LNG facilities in Darwin, Australia.

Source: INPEX Corp.