Nippon Oil Corp News

ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, which is shipping its first cargo, is set to dramatically transform one of Asia-Pacific's most unstable countries, for better or for worse. The LNG venture, which is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over 30 years, is the largest private investment in the South Pacific nation's history. ExxonMobil is relying on projects like this one for much-needed production growth, while the Papua New Guinea government hopes it might double its $15 billion dollar economy, now slightly larger than Botswana's. But sharing the spoils of resource projects has previously torn apart a country that is seen as one of the most corrupt in the world…

Nippon Oil Corp. has started commercial production of crude oil at a reservoir in the North Sea. Maximum daily oil production at the Blane field, located some 260 kilometers east of Scotland's Aberdeen, is estimated at 17,000 barrels. MOC Exploration (U.K.) Ltd., a fifty-fifty joint venture between Nippon Oil and the Japanese government, holds a 14.0 pct stake in the concession, which accounts for daily production of 2,380 barrels of crude oil. Nippon Oil plans to transport the crude oil from the field to the Scottish mainland via a pipeline, and then sell it on to European users, it said. The Blane field produces light crude oil, suitable for processing into gasoline and gas oil.

Builder NKK Corp. NKK Corp. delivered a 300,000-dwt., Panamanian-flagged, Malacca-max oil tanker to Aquamarine Ship-holding Maritime S.A., a Panamanian subsidiary of NYK Line in September 2002. Built at NKK's Tsu Works, the tanker, which is now in regular service for Nippon Oil Corp., is the first in the Malacca-max VLCC (very large crude carrier) class that NKK has developed in response to owners' requirements for maximum operational efficiency. Measuring 1,092 x 197 x 97 ft. (333 x 60 x 29.6 m) with a 68 ft. (20.8-m) draft, realizing the maximum permissible dimension to sail through the Strait of Malacca. The ship incorporates the latest energy-saving technologies and designs, including a sharp-edged Ax-Bow that greatly reduces wave resistance under rough sea conditions.