Japan's INPEX Considers Increasing Oil Production in the UAE

Japan's INPEX: Increasing its oil production in the UAE

In line with the UAE's plans to increase its production to 5 million barrels per day

The president and CEO of INPEX, Takayuki Ueda, said the company is considering increasing production from its onshore and offshore concessions in the UAE, as well as expanding its activities in Norway.

Ueda added, on the sidelines of the Gastech conference in Milan on Tuesday, that this is in line with the UAE's plans to increase its production from 4 million barrels per day to 5 million. He continued, "We have some assets in Norway, and we recently acquired assets in the North Sea, and we also have room to expand our activities there," according to Reuters.

Regarding its operations in Southeast Asia, Ueda indicated that INPEX is moving forward with the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia, where the government has called for accelerating development amid growing domestic demand for gas. INPEX operates the project and owns a 65% stake in it. This comes as the company expects global demand for LNG to nearly double by 2040–2050, with Asia accounting for more than half of this growth.

Ueda said, "There is some demand coming from the United States due to increased electricity consumption driven by the growth of artificial intelligence and data centers, as well as demand from European countries seeking to reduce their imports from Russia, but most of the demand will come from the Asian region." Inpex is also seeking additional LNG deals in the Middle East and the United States to enhance its trading capabilities and provide more flexible supplies.