Japan's Inpex Boosts Annual Profit Outlook on Soaring Oil Prices. Shares Abadi Plans

Yuka Obayashi
Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp raised its net profit forecast for 2022 by 20% to a record 300 billion yen ($2.3 billion) thanks to higher-than-expected oil prices and a lower yen against the U.S. dollar.

Its annual net profit prediction was raised from its February estimate of 250 billion yen as the company revised its assumption of an average Brent oil price to $85 a barrel from $75 a barrel and the yen's rate against the dollar to 120 yen from 110 yen.

"Higher sales of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) amid soaring oil prices as well as the yen's drop contributed to stronger profit outlook," Managing Executive Director Daisuke Yamada told a news conference.

"Revised outlook is based on conservative assumptions of oil price and forex," he added, suggesting an upside potential if the latest oil prices of around $104 a barrel and the level of the yen at around 130 continue.

For the January-March quarter, its net profit grew 146% to a record 94.09 billion yen.

Inpex owns a stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil project and another oil project in Irkutsk in Russia, but Russian oil accounts for only 1% of the company's total production and any disruption in Russian projects will have a limited impact, Yamada said.

Asked about its stance on the projects amid the deepening conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Inpex will act in line with its partners, including the Japanese government, he said.

Inpex plans to boost its annual output of LNG at the Ichthys project in Australia to 9.3 million tonnes in 2024 from 8.9 million now, but any immediate increase to respond to tight global supply is difficult, Yamada said.

Inpex also hopes to make a final investment decision onAbadi LNG project in Indonesia in the later half of this decade and start production early in the next, he said.

"We had to rethink plans after reports of Shell's withdrawal and growing decarbonization trend...but we still want to make the Abadi as the second pillar of our LNG business following the Ichthys," Yamada said.

($1 = 129.9900 yen)

(Reuters - Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)

Categories: Finance Energy LNG Industry News Activity Production Asia Australia/NZ

Related Stories

Woodside Inks Long-Term LNG Supply Deal with China Resources

All Gas from Conrad’s Mako Field to be Sold to Indonesia’s PLN

Valeura Wraps Up Infill Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

ADNOC Signs 15-Year LNG Supply Deal with Osaka Gas for Ruwais Project

Six New Gas Wells in Line for BP’s Shah Deniz Field in Caspian Sea

ADNOC Secures LNG Supply Deal with India's BPCL

Santos Hires Weststar-GAP for Timor-Leste Offshore Helicopter Services

CNOOC Boosts Dongfang Gas Fields Output with New Platform Coming Online

Europe's Gas Uncertainty Help Drive Asian LNG Spot Prices Higher

CNOOC’s South China Sea Oil Field Goes On Stream

Current News

Shell-Reliance-ONGC JV Complete India’s First Offshore Decom Project

The Future of Long-Idle Drillships: Cold-Stacked or Dead-Stacked?

TMC Books Compressors Orders for FPSO and LNG Vessels

MODEC, Sumitomo Partner Up for Delivery of Gato do Mato FPSO

Chuditch Gas Field Up for Summer Drilling Ops as Sunda Reshapes Ownership Structure

EnQuest Bags Two Production Sharing Contracts off Indonesia

Hanwha Drilling’s Tidal Action Drillship En Route to Petrobras’ Roncador Field

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

MODEC Wins ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead FPSO Contract

India Stretches Bids Deadline for 13 Offshore Deep-Sea Mineral Blocks

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com