Inpex Corporation finds oil in Malaysia

Japanese oil exploration company Inpex Corporation discovered oil at the Bestari 1 exploration well, offshore Sabah, on Tuesday.

Oil at the well, located at deepwater block R, was discovered by the operator JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Deepwater Sabah, a subsidiary of the Japanese oil company JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration.

Preliminary findings at the Bestari 1 well point to a 70-metre column of oil-bearing sands across multiple horizons. The water depth of the offshore block, which covers an area of 672 square kilometres, ranges between 100 metres and 1,400 metres.

Inpex Corporation owns a 27.5 percent participating interest in the block through its Malaysian subsidiary Inpex Offshore South West Sabah. The company conducts exploration activities alongside the well’s operator JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Deepwater Sabah (27.5 percent), Petronas Carigali (25 percent), the exploration and production arm of Petronas, and Santos Sabah Block R (20 percent), a subsidiary of Australian oil and gas entity Santos, which owns a participating interest in the block.

According to Inpex Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation will cover up to 50 percent of exploration expenditure incurred by Inpex Offshore South West Sabah.