Japex wants to quadruple its oil and gas production in 10 years; it is looking at US expansion

Japan Petroleum - Exploration said Wednesday that it planned to quadruple its oil and gas production over the next decade. It will invest 1.16 trillion yen (7.3 billion) into 'exploration and production', mainly in the United States.

Michiro Yamashita, the company's president, said that more than half of the 1.1 trillion yen budget for overseas E&P will be allocated to the United States.

Yamashita stated that "we expect more than half of the investment will go to the U.S.

He said that the remainder would be divided?roughly evenly between Norway and Southeast Asia with an emphasis on Indonesia.

Yamashita stated that the Iran crisis has reaffirmed the importance of maintaining?stable fossil-fuel supplies for national safety. The latest strategy also reflects a shift in global thinking toward a more pragmatic approach to meet rising energy demands while advancing decarbonisation.

Yamashita stated that the new plan does not take into account the Middle East Crisis.

Japex wants to increase its net profit from 45 billion yen to 100 billion yen (fiscal 2035) by investing 1.5 trillion yen over the next 10 year in growth areas, with a focus on E&P, and its carbon?capture?,?utilisation?, and?storage business.

The company plans to increase oil and gas production to 180,000 barrels?equivalent of oil per day by fiscal 2020 from 45,000 boe/d?now and to store 1.5-2 millions metric tons carbon dioxide each year by fiscal 2030, with a goal of storing 8 million or more tonne of CO2 by fiscal 2035.

Japex also aims to increase return on equity from 6.7% to 12% in fiscal 2035, up from 6.7% during fiscal 2025. $1 = 159.3300 Japanese yen (Reporting and editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar, Kim Coghill).

(source: Reuters)