Page 4 - AsianOil Week 19 2022

AsianOil COMMENTARY AsianOil

Inpex as it raises profit forecast

Japan’s Inpex has raised its net profit forecast for 2022 and kicked off new

exploratory drilling over the past week

PERFORMANCE JAPAN’S Inpex, like other oil and gas compa- At the same time as Inpex advances these pro-
nies around the world, is reaping the benefits of jects and benefits from current trends, though, it
WHAT: higher commodity prices. This week the com- has certain headwinds to contend with, such as
Inpex has raised its net pany – Japan’s largest exploration and produc- its Russian investments, which it appears com-
profit forecast for 2022 tion firm – raised its net profit forecast for the mitted to for now.
to a record JPY300bn whole year to a record JPY300bn ($2.3bn). This
($2.3bn). was attributed to higher oil price expectations Revised outlook
and a lower yen against the US dollar, as well as Inpex previously projected in February that
WHY: building on a strong first-quarter performance. its net profit for the year would amount to
The Japanese company Inpex’s net profit for the first quarter also JPY250bn ($1.9bn), so the upward revision to a
is benefiting from higher reached a record high, coming in at JPY94.1bn record high of JPY300bn represents an increase
oil prices and a lower yen ($728mn) and representing a 146% year-on- of 20%.
against the US dollar. year increase from JPY38.2bn ($295mn). The company revised its assumption of the
The results came as a background to the com- average Brent oil price to $85 per barrel from
WHAT NEXT: pany moving forward with various exploration $75 per barrel previously and the yen’s rate
Inpex has also said it will plans. In a separate announcement earlier in against the dollar to JPY120 from JPY110.
act in line with partners May, Inpex said it had kicked off exploratory Indeed, the yen has been trading above 120 to
including the Japanese drilling operations offshore the Japanese prefec- the dollar since late March and is closer to 130 to
government on its tures of Shimane and Yamaguchi on May 5. The the dollar as of this week, while Brent prices are
Russian investments. project involves conducting exploratory drill- above $110 per barrel, so further revisions may
ing surveys, which will be followed by detailed be required later in the year. And Inpex’s man-
analysis and evaluation of the obtained data to aging executive director, Daisuke Yamada, told
determine the extent of oil and gas deposits at a news conference that the latest revised outlook
the drilling locations. was based on “conservative assumptions” for oil
Separately, an Inpex subsidiary submitted an prices and foreign exchange.
environment plan to Australian regulators on For the first six months of the year, Inpex has
May 4 for the drilling of two exploration wells revised its net profit forecast by 33.3%, from
in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia. JPY150bn ($1.2bn) to JPY200bn ($1.5bn). The

Inpex has announced
the start of a new
exploratory drilling
campaign offshore
Japan.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 13•May•2022