Loan for Acquisition of Interest in Onshore Oil Fields in Abu Dhabi
Contributing to Stable Supply of Energy Resources for Japan

• Region: The Middle East
• Energy and Natural Resources
• Overseas Investment Loans

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Akira Kondoh) signed today a loan agreement amounting to approximately USD339 million (JBIC portion) with INPEX CORPORATION (INPEX). This loan is cofinanced with Mizuho Bank, Ltd., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, bringing the overall cofinancing amount to approximately USD566 million.
    
2. The loan is intended to finance necessary funds for INPEX to acquire, through its subsidiary, interests in ADCO oilfields, the onshore oilfields in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi), the United Arab Emirates. The ADCO oilfields, in which INPEX acquired a 40-year concession (5% participating interest) from the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) in April 2015, produce about 1.6 million barrels of crude oil a day, making it one of the world's largest oilfields.
    
3. In the "Basic Energy Plan," decided by the cabinet on June 18, 2010, the Japanese government set forth the target of increasing its self-development ratio of oil and natural gas to 40% or more by 2030. A July 2015 report by the Natural Resources and Fuel Committee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy also stressed the importance of maintaining this target.
    
4. Abu Dhabi is vital to Japan's resource strategy as the emirate allows the entry of foreign companies on the basis of concession agreements. In order to mutually confirm the importance of new interest acquisitions by Japanese companies, JBIC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)^*1 with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) which manages Abu Dhabi's oil and gas businesses, taking into account SPC's policy guidelines. At the same time, JBIC has indirectly supported Japanese companies' interest acquisitions in Abu Dhabi through a series of loans^*2. Thus this loan in connection with INPEX's acquisition of interests in the ADCO oilfields contributes to the enhancement of Japan's self-development ratio of oil and gas.
    
5. As Japan's policy-based financial institution, JBIC will continue to actively support the development and acquisition of energy resources by Japanese companies and financially assist the securing of steady energy supply for Japan, by drawing on its various financial facilities and schemes for structuring projects, and performing its risk-assuming function.
    

Note

1. *1 See Press Release on November 10, 2015, for further details.
2. *2 See Press Releases on December 18, 2007, November 4, 2010, February 12, 2013, and January 18, 2016, for details on the past loans.
3.