“Inpex is in the process of gathering information and conducting updates as necessary; Inpex will consider its response once the tender is published and the terms and conditions pertaining to the tender and oil contract are clarified," Platts quoted an Inpex company spokesman as saying.
The report comes as top Iranian officials have said over past two days that Iran had launched the tender for the development of the Azadegan field in Southwestern Iran and had already invited international oil companies to take part in the tender.
Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor said that the tender would be held in the coming days, with invitation letters to file proposals to be sent to 29 international oil companies.
In 2004, Inpex entered into an agreement with NIOC and its subsidiary Naftiran Intertrade Co. Ltd. for the integrated appraisal and development operations of the Azadegan field, with Inpex holding a 75-percent working interest. Inpex later cut its stake to 10 percent, and announced in October 2010 that it was withdrawing from the Azadegan development project.
In January, the Japan Times quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that Inpex had launched negotiations with NIOC to develop the Azadegan oilfield, and is a strong candidate for the contract.
Azadegan, which is estimated to have up to 42 billion barrels of oil in place and is considered Iran’s biggest onshore field, currently produces less than 50,000 bpd, but Iran hopes to increase production volumes to between 300,000 bpd and 320,000 bpd.