In September 1998, INPEX acquired a working interest in the Offshore North Caspian Sea block inside Kazakhstan’s territorial waters. Today INPEX holds an approximately 7.56% interest.

The Kashagan oil field was discovered during the first exploratory drilling in the block in September 1999. The first discovery in the Kazakhstan-controlled part of the Caspian Sea, the Kashagan field is among the largest finds in the history of oil exploration. A phased development of this super-giant field is planned, with the Phase 1 experimental program now underway. Target peak production for the fully developed field is 1.5 million bpd.

Besides the Kashagan field, hydrocarbon reserves have also been confirmed in the four other structures, such as Kalamkas, Kashagan Southwest, Aktote and Kairan. Appraisal of these structures is continuing in parallel with the development of the main Kashagan field with a view to expanding the total production of the block.

INPEX acquired a 10% working interest in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil fields in April 2003. The fields are located in a region of the South Caspian Sea controlled by the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Oil production started in the Chirag field and has since expanded to include the Central Azeri field (February 2005), the West Azeri field (December 2005) and the East Azeri field (October 2006). The Deep Water Gunashli field came on-stream in April 2008. Operation continues to increase oil output from the ACG fields to the 1.0 million bpd.

Most of the crude oil produced by the ACG fields is being transported from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia for shipment from the Mediterranean coast using the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, a major oil transportation system that began full-scale operations in June 2006.

INPEX acquired a 2.5% interest in the BTC pipeline project in October 2002.

The 1,770-kilometer BTC pipeline stretches from the Azeri capital of Baku to Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast through Tbilisi, Georgia. The original transport capacity of the route is 1.0 million bpd. Commencing full-scale operation in June 2006, the pipeline was originally built to transport crude oil produced in the AGC oil fields in Azerbaijan. The pipeline’s capacity is planned to expand up to 1.2 million bpd so that it can also accommodate future oil output from the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan.

The Ceyhan marine terminal has seven crude oil storage tanks with capacity of 1 million barrels and a jetty with 2,000 meters long where two 300,000-ton tankers can dock at the same time.

INPEX is participating in the development of the ACG fields in Azerbaijan and the Kashagan field in Kazakhstan, both of which rank among the world’s limited number of super-giant oil fields. Completion of the BTC pipeline has enabled direct shipment of oil from these fields by supertanker from a Mediterranean port without passing through the congested shipping lanes of Turkey’s Bosporus straits. The BTC pipeline is expected to play a major role in transporting the crude oil produced in the ACG and Kashagan fields as their output grows.