Inpex to Cut Investment Due to Lower Energy Prices

Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp said on Thursday it would reduce development expenditure by 24.2 percent to 667 billion yen ($6.11 billion) in the year that started in April, due to lower energy prices.

 

Oil companies around the world are slashing investments to maintain dividends in the face of weak oil prices driven by a global supply glut.

 

Inpex plans to curb expenditure on its Mahakam project in Indonesia, a company official said.

 

Another main expenditure for Inpex has been its Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia.

 

"The majority of investment is on Ichthys, and as it nears the end of Ichthys project, the investments are declining," Inpex Managing Executive Officer Masahiro Murayama told reporters during a briefing on full-year earnings results. "But we are making drastic cuts in other projects."

 

The company said Ichthys project was about 84 percent complete in March and on budget and target for its revised start-up schedule of July-September 2017.