22-11-2012

Termination of refining business at the Kubiki Refinery, Japan

Inpex Corporation has decided to terminate the refining business at the Kubiki Refinery in mid-December this year. INPEX’s wholly-owned subsidiary Teiseki Topping Plant Co., Ltd. (TTP) has been engaged in the refining business at the Kubiki Refinery located in Ogata-ku, Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture since 1963. We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the communities and the customers in the region for their continued business and support for nearly a half-century long.

The Kubiki Refinery started its operation in 1963 to refine the crude oil produced from the Kubiki Oil and Gas Field lying neayby (pumped until 2001). The Kubiki Refinery also refined the condensate produced from the Minami Nagaoka Gas Field, which is one of the largest gas field in Japan, and the crude oil from other INPEX owned domestic oil fields. Due to decline of the crude oil production there and inefficienty of the aging facilities INPEX has made the decision to close the Refinery.

INPEX plans to start decommissioning the refining facilities of the Kubiki Refinery in April 2013 and will complete it by October 2013. INPEX is going to take every available measures for the safety of the decommissioning work, and it sincerely hopes for continued support and kind understanding of the communities in the region.

After the Refinery is closed, INPEX will sell its crude oil produced from INPEX owned domestic fields directly to the customers. Meanwhile, INPEX will continue to run the marketing business of petroleum products by procuring them from other refining companies. INPEX will also maintain its operation in Oil Terminal Naoetsu (OTN), which has the function of the logistics of petroleum products, located in Kuroi, Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. Thus INPEX will contiribute to the stable supply and efficient distribution of petroleum products in the Jo-Shinetsu Area (Nagano and Niigata Prefectures).

In Niigata Prefecture, INPEX is intensively engaged in natural gas production operation at the Minami Nagaoka Gas Field and proceeds to the construction of Naoetsu LNG Receiving Terminal that starts operation in 2014. Also in last August, INPEX decided to construct “INPEX Mega Solar Joetsu,” which has a maximum capacity of generating electricity of 2,000kW to be installed in the premises of TTP, where the construction of the Mega Solar plant will commence in October 2012, targeting the operation start-up in March 2013.