Inpex, Japan's oil company, raises its full-year profit estimate as oil prices rise
Inpex, Japan's largest oil and gas exploration company, raised its net profit forecast for the full year on Wednesday. It cited higher than expected crude oil prices as well as a weaker Japanese yen in light of the Middle East crisis.
Inpex has revised its 'net profit forecasts for 2026 to a range between 350 billion yen and 450 billion (US$2.2 billion-$2.9billion) from an earlier estimate of 330billion yen. The revised outlook indicates a drop of 11% to an increase of 14% from the previous year.
Daisuke Yamada, Senior Managing Director of the company, told reporters that they adopted a "range-based" outlook because there was uncertainty about the Middle East conflict.
Inpex increased its estimate for the average Brent crude oil price to $70-$83 from an earlier estimate of $63, and revised its dollar/yen assumptions to?154 - 156 yen, from 151 yen.
Inpex, which owns stakes in several oilfields in Abu Dhabi, has reduced its annual 'production forecast' to 630,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from the 655,000 barrels it had projected in February.
The lower selling prices hurt the net profit for the January-March period, which fell by 13.5% compared to a year ago.
Japan imported?95% its crude oil from the Middle East before the Iran War began in February. Japan has been forced to find alternatives due to the effective closure of Strait.
Toshiaki Takimoto, Senior Executive Vice-President of the company, said that "our policy is to prioritize energy?supplies for Japanese buyers". He added that the company was also committed to actively supply core markets such as Australia and Southeast Asia.
Takimoto stated that the condensate produced by its Ichthys project in Australia, was sent to Japan as a priority. Similarly,?crude oil from an Azerbaijani field was diverted to Japan following the outbreak of war with Iran.
Inpex anticipates that?Ichthys will ship an average of?about 10 cargoes per monthly?in 2026. Yamada stated that he would engage in sincere talks with the Ichthys union to avoid a major strike.
(source: Reuters)
