INPEX CORPORATION, through INPEX Gas British Columbia Ltd., has agreed in principle to acquire a 40% participating interest in the shale gas projects in the Horn River, Cordova and Liard basins from Nexen Inc., a Canadian exploration and production company. This is the first case and it is a major milestone for INPEX to participate in a shale gas development and production project. This transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent.

INPEX Gas British Columbia Ltd. is jointly established by INPEX and JGC Corporation with the purpose of promoting the shale gas projects in the Horn River, Cordova and Liard basins The Horn River, Cordova and Liard basins are located in northeast corner of British Columbia, about 1,000km north-northwest of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. These three basins are considered to contain high potential of large-scale shale gas reserves.

The joint venture lands are comprised of Horn River 366km, Cordova 333km, and Liard 517km, forming relatively large portions of each basin. In the Horn River basin, production has already started and it now produces shale gas of approximately 50 million standard cubic feet per day. In the Horn River and Cordova basins, we envision a full-scale production of the shale gas is expected to be up to 1,250 million standard cubic feet per day.

In the Horn River and Cordova basins, INPEX and Nexen will proceed with appraisal and development of the resource. In the Liard basin, INPEX and Nexen will conduct the necessary evaluation activities for further shale gas development.

INPEX plans to dispatch its experts as secondees to this project, which help the project benefit from INPEX’s wide range of gas development experiences around the world. Thus, INPEX is going to be involved in this promising shale gas development and production opportunity.

INPEX is seeking to expand global E&P activities as one of the fundamental strategies, and the acquisition of the shale gas project will meet a strategic objective to strengthen INPEX’s natural gas asset portfolio. INPEX continues to aggressively pursue oil and gas exploration and production projects targeting also unconventional hydrocarbon resources by acquiring expertise and knowledge of shale gas development projects brought by this opportunity.

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