Japan’s July crude oil imports by refiners and trading houses rose 7.1% from July 2006 to 21.3 million kl, or 4.32 million b/d.
While the refiners and trading houses’ crude imports from the Middle East accounted for 85% of overall imports in July, those imports were actually down 7.6% from July 2006 and down from 86.1% in June.
Reduced dependence on Middle Eastern supplies? While the amount is not huge, it still makes for an interesting story, due to the fact that Japanese oil companies are going to places much farther afield to obtain their supplies.
Consider the efforts of Japan’s Teikoku Oil, a wholly owned subsidiary of oil exploration company Inpex Holdings, which Aug. 31 said it acquired a 35% participating interest in Block 31, which covers 13,860 sq km in the Guyana basin in 20-130 m of water off Suriname.
Oil in Suriname
Will the block yield oil? That remains to be seen as a 3-year exploration period, which includes a drilling commitment, will begin in May 2008.
But the Japanese firm-which already operates in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela-is upbeat about the prospects. “We think this new deal in Suriname may lead to further opportunities to expand our business in the Latin America region,” Teikoku said.
The firm is moving ahead with plans to explore in the region as shown on Aug. 27 when Colombia’s state hydrocarbons regulator ANH distributed a list of prequalified operators for the upcoming Ronda Caribe round for 13 exploration and production blocks.
In fact, ANH preapproved just three companies as operators: Colombia’s state-owned Ecopetrol, Chevron Corp., and Teikoku. That’s saying something, too, as the competition includes some internationally known heavy-hitters.
Oil in Mexico
Teikoku also is at work in Mexico, a point revealed Aug. 10 when Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos signed two agreements to develop Mexico’s oil reserves.
The agreements foresee joint studies aimed at developing heavy oil production processes in shallow waters and at oil production in fractured carbonated reservoirs.
Petrobras currently leads the PTD consortium, which renders services in the Burgos basin in northern Mexico. The consortium is formed by Petrobras 45%, Teikoku 40%, and Mexico’s Diavaz 15%.
Not all of Teikoku’s discoveries are huge, however, nor are all of them outside of Japan. Just last month Teikoku discovered oil and gas deposits at an exploratory well in the northern Japanese prefecture of Niigata.
Flow tests conducted since May have seen the well producing 80 kl./day of oil and 7,000 cu m of gas, from 3,588-3,702 m below the surface.
The project will continue to assess the total size of the deposits, Teikoku said.
As we know, every drop counts.