What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?
These are the five most significant matters handled by my team in the last 12 months:
Firstly, a Revised Plan of Development for Abadi LNG project, Masela Block, Indonesia (4 April 2023): INPEX subsidiary INPEX Masela, Ltd. submitted a revised Plan of Development (POD) for the Abadi LNG Project incorporating a carbon capture and storage (CCS) component to Indonesian government authorities on behalf of the joint venture composed of INPEX and Shell (currently INPEX/Pertamina/Petronas). The POD was subsequently approved in December 2023.
The company has been in dialogue with the authorities to ensure the project’s competitiveness and sustainability from a long-term perspective for the duration of the energy transition, and to render the project clean and capable of responding to changes in the external environment.
As a result, INPEX amended the revised POD to include plans to neutralise all carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from natural gas production at the Abadi Gas Field through the introduction of CCS. In addition, other circumstances facilitating the project’s implementation have been restored, enabling the submission of the revised POD at this time.
In March 2023, Indonesia enacted a Ministerial Regulation of Energy and Mineral Resources on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCS/CCUS) in the oil and gas business. Accordingly, the project is expected to be the first CCS project to be carried out as a cost recovery business based on the production sharing contract framework governing upstream oil and gas projects in Indonesia.

INPEX has mobilised personnel and resumed activities associated with the project, including various on-site activities, and preparation for FEED work. The INPEX legal team across a number of offices has been playing a pivotal role in the restart of the project.
Thereafter, INPEX expects to complete the necessary preparations including marketing and financing activities, in which the legal team will be deeply involved, and proceed with the project aiming to reach a final investment decision (FID) in the latter half of the 2020s and commence production in the early 2030s as outlined in INPEX Vision@2022.
The project is expected to be INPEX’s second self-operated, large-scale natural gas development project following the Ichthys LNG project in Australia. The project’s annual LNG production volume is expected to reach 9.5 million tons, equivalent to more than 10 percent of Japan’s annual LNG imports. The Abadi Gas Field is expected to contribute to improving energy security in Indonesia, Japan, and other Asian countries, based on its world-leading gas field properties and plentiful reserves enabling efficient development and its CCS component allowing the stable supply of clean energy over the long term.
In addition, the project is expected to contribute significantly to the much needed economic development of the eastern part of Indonesia in particular, and to achieving Indonesia’s goal of reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2060.

Secondly, the Share Purchase Agreement with Enel Green Power for Australian Renewable Energy Business (13 July 2023): INPEX agreed with Enel Green Power S.p.A. (EGP), a subsidiary of Italian utility company Enel S.p.A. (Enel), on the transfer of 50 percent of shares in Enel Green Power Australia Pty Ltd and Enel Green Power Australia Trust (together EGPA), two entities owning all of Enel’s activities in Australia, to a subsidiary of INPEX, by signing a share purchase agreement.
EGPA, a renewables platform business, is currently engaged in renewable energy development and operations including wind, solar, storage and hybrid projects, across Australia, alongside expanding its activities in innovative solutions within its retail and trading operations. INPEX purchased 50 percent of shares in EGPA through its newly established subsidiary INPEX Renewable Energy Australia Pty Ltd and is jointly controlling EGPA, overseeing the company’s current renewable generation portfolio and continuing to develop its project pipeline, targeting an increase of EGPA’s installed capacity. This ensures EGPA will continue to drive the energy transition underway in Australia, accelerating its contribution to achieve the country’s net zero targets.
INPEX seeks to enhance and emphasise its renewable energy initiatives, which are one of the 5 net zero businesses outlined in its Long-term Strategy and Medium-Term Management Plan (INPEX Vision @2022) and will accelerate its business expansion leveraging assets acquired through mergers and acquisitions as a platform.
This acquisition of shares in EGPA significantly marks INPEX’s entry into a diverse renewable energy market in Australia, which is one of INPEX’s core business areas.

Thirdly, the Commencement of Construction on Kashiwazaki Clean Hydrogen/Ammonia Project (12 July 2023): INPEX commenced construction of surface plant facilities for the “Kashiwazaki Clean Hydrogen/Ammonia Project” to be implemented at the INPEX-owned Higashi-Kashiwazaki Gas Field in the Hirai district of Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan.
The project is the first in Japan to build an integrated hydrogen and ammonia value chain from production to usage. Hydrogen and ammonia are forms of clean energy that do not generate CO2 when used.
Natural gas produced in Niigata Prefecture will be used as feedstock to produce the hydrogen and ammonia. The CO2 generated during the production process will be separated, pressurised and injected in the Higashi-Kashiwazaki Gas Field Reservoir, a subsurface gas reservoir where gas production has terminated, through Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Hydrogen produced in this manner is referred to as “blue hydrogen”.
Blue hydrogen produced in this demonstration test will be converted into electricity through a hydrogen power generation system and supplied to end users in Niigata Prefecture. Some of the blue hydrogen will be used to produce blue ammonia with the aim of supplying it for fertiliser use to consumers also in Niigata Prefecture.
Through the project, INPEX will contribute to enhancing Japan’s energy security by realizing clean energy production from domestic gas. In addition, INPEX will use its findings from the project to build a blue hydrogen production plant in Niigata Prefecture utilizing its natural gas field and existing infrastructure, aiming for commercialization by around 2030. The company will also continue to study opportunities for blue hydrogen/ammonia and CCS/CCUS projects internationally, leveraging the knowledge and experience gained from this project.
The surface plant facilities will have an annual production scale of 700 tons, infrastructure to separate and capture CO2 generated during hydrogen production, CO2 subsurface injection infrastructure and facilities to produce, store and ship ammonia. All these features involve advanced technologies contributing to a low-carbon society.
The hydrogen production facility will use Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions’ ATR (Autothermal Reforming) technology, which can reduce the energy required to separate CO2 during hydrogen production. The CO2 separation/capture facility will adopt a process called HiPACT by JGC Global Co., Ltd./BASF, which enables the reduction of power required to pressurie CO2 by recovering CO2 at high pressure. The ammonia production facility adopts the technology of Tsubame BHB Co., Ltd., which makes it possible to synthesise ammonia at low temperature and low pressure by adopting a unique catalyst. Daiichi Jitsugyo Co., Ltd. will handle the design, equipment procurement, construction work (EPC), and commissioning services related to these facilities. JGC Corporation will construct hydrogen production equipment, CO2 separation/recovery equipment, underground injection equipment, and other equipment.

It is worth noting that this project was awarded as the Energy Transition Initiative of the Year (2024) recently at the International Energy Seminar, run by the Association of International Energy Negotiators.

Fourthly, the acquisition of Shares in Moray East Offshore Wind Farm (2 March 2023): INPEX acquired a 16.7 percent stake in the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm, which is currently in operation approximately 22 kilometers off the Moray East coast of Scotland in the United Kingdom. The acquisition was enabled through an agreement between INPEX Renewable Energy Europe Limited (INPEX Renewable) and Diamond Generating Europe Limited (DGE), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation registered in the UK, to transfer stock in Diamond Generating Europe Investments Limited (DGI) from DGE to INPEX Renewable, which was established in the UK to promote INPEX’s renewable energy business in Europe.

The Moray East offshore wind farm has been in commercial operation since April 2022 with an output scale of 950 megawatts produced by one hundred 9.5-megawatt units.

INPEX seeks to enhance and emphasise its renewable energy initiatives, which are one of the 5 net zero businesses outlined in the company’s “INPEX Vision @2022”. As part of this, INPEX is accelerating its initiatives aimed at its offshore wind power generation business leveraging its experience in the construction and operation of offshore floating facilities cultivated at project sites around the world.

Finally, the Divestment from Tight Oil Development & Production in Texas (1 February 2023): INPEX sold its subsidiary INPEX Eagle Ford, LLC to Repsol Oil & Gas USA, LLC, a subsidiary of Repsol, thereby divesting from all its tight oil development and production activities in the Eagle Ford play in the State of Texas in the United States.
Prior to the divestment, INPEX held multiple tight oil development and production assets in the area through its subsidiary, INPEX Americas, Inc., and was engaged in the development, production and marketing of tight oil as the operator of most of the project since its acquisition in April 2019.
INPEX’s decision to divest was based mainly on the company’s view to optimise the INPEX Group’s global asset portfolio.