UPDATE 1-Nippon Oil, others deny Libya refinery project

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TOKYO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Japan's top oil refiner Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and two oil and gas developers Inpex Holdings Inc (Inpex) (1605.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co Ltd (Japex) (1662.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Friday denied a report that they were in talks to build an oil refinery in Libya.

The Nikkei business daily said a consortium of five Japanese firms, also including JGC Corp (1963.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Nippon Yusen KK (9101.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), were in discussions with an eye towards building a 200,000 barrels per day facility in a 400 billion yen ($3.6 billion)-500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) project.

Inpex and Japex called the Nikkei report "groundless." A Nippon Oil spokesman also denied the report. (Reporting by Kentaro Hamada, Osamu Tsukimori and Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Malcolm Whittaker)