JX granted licensing in Greenland

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. announced in a press release that through Greenland Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd. (“GreenPeX”), it was successful in the 2012/2013 licensing round in Greenland Sea area and the Greenland Self-Government, and the company also won the two offshore exploration licenses, Block 9 and Block 14, in Kanumas area, northeastern part of offshore Greenland, jointly withChevron and Shell. The joint venture also has entered into the licensing contracts for Block 9 and Block 14 and concluded as 2013/45 license and 2013/46 license, respectively, with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources of Greenland, according to the press release.

2013/45 license and 2013/46 license are located in the Kanumas area, approximately 60 km to 200 km (37 miles to 124 miles) northeastern part of offshore Greenland with a water depth of approximately 150 m to 450 m (492 ft to 1,476 ft) and span area of 2,220 sq km (857 sq miles) and 2,634 sq km (1,017 sq miles), respectively. Kanumas area is a frontier area where no well has been drilled for oil and gas exploration, and many E&P companies expect major oil and gas discoveries.

In these exploration licenses, Chevron as the operator, Shell and GreenPeX each holds 29.1667% participating interest while Greenland national oil company, Nunaoil, holds 12.5% participating interest, according to the press release. The aforesaid participants will conduct exploration activities including seismic acquisition, etc. in these licenses for the new discovery of oil and natural gas, according to JX Nippon.

In addition, this exploration project has been financially supported by Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC), according to JX Nippon.