Santos acquires interest in Malaysia's deepwater Block R from Inpex, JX Nippon

MINATO, Japan -- Inpex Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Inpex Offshore South West Sabah, has reached an agreement to transfer 10% of its participating interest in the deepwater Block R, offshore East Malaysia to Santos Sabah Block R, a subsidiary of Santos Limited.

Santos Sabah Block R also separately agreed to acquire a 10% participating interest in the block from JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration, bringing its total participating interest in the block to 20% upon fulfillment of due procedures.

Inpex Offshore South West Sabah currently owns a 37.5% participating interest in the block, where it conducts exploration activities alongside operator JX and Petronas Carigali, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petronas.

The block located in offshore East Malaysia covers an area of 672 sq km with a water depth ranging from 100 m to 1,400 m. The block lies in the area where large reserves of oil and natural gas, such as the Kikeh and the Gumusut-Kakap oil fields, were discovered.