A consortium led by Japan’s Inpex Corp. has closed on a transaction with Nexen Inc., creating a joint venture to develop unconventional shale gas assets in the Horn River, Cordova, and Liard basins in northeastern British Columbia.
Nexen, which sold a 40% working interest in its British Columbia assets for $700 million, remains the operator with 60% interest (OGJ Online, Nov. 29, 2011).
The 40% is owned by Inpex Gas British Columbia Ltd. (IGBC), of which Inpex owns 82% and JGC Corp. owns 18% interest. JGC is an engineering contractor with project management capabilities in refining, gas processing, LNG, and petrochemicals.
Nexen and IGBC are continuing with completion activities on an 18-well pad in the Horn River basin, which is scheduled to come on stream during the fourth quarter. Nexen and IGBC plan to jointly appraise shale assets and investigate the feasibility of LNG exports.
Inpex already owns interests in LNG projects offshore Indonesia and Australia. In addition, Inpex is building a regasification terminal in Japan.