Rosneft, Inpex to explore Sea of Okhotsk shelf

Inpex Corp., Tokyo, has signed a cooperation agreement to take a one-third stake in two blocks held by Russia’s Rosneft on the Sea of Okhotsk that the Russian company believes contain a recoverable resource of 11.3 billion bbl of oil equivalent.

The Magadan-2 and Magadan-3 blocks cover 28,082 sq km in 100-200 m of water 50-150 km offshore south of Magadan in a subarctic part of the Russian Far East. The blocks are in a largely unexplored frontier area, Inpex said.

The two firms will set up a joint venture for which Inpex will fully finance geological exploratory work. Inpex will reimburse development expenses incurred by Rosneft on the blocks and 33.3% of what Rosneft paid to acquire the licenses.

The cooperation agreement provides Inpex with the exclusive right to negotiate final agreements to explore and develop the blocks. Once a final agreement is executed, Inpex will pay Rosneft a one-time bonus for each commercial oil and gas discovery proportionally with its stake in the project.