TOKYO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) looks set to extend the stakes a subsidiary of Japan's Cosmo Oil 5007.T holds in three oilfields, a Japanese trade ministry official said on Wednesday.
ADNOC’s CEO Yousef Omair bin Yousef said in a Tuesday meeting in Abu Dhabi with Japan trade minister Akihiro Ohata that he expected a 30-year extension, the ministry official said.
The United Arab Emirates is Cosmo’s biggest crude supplier and the second-biggest supplier to Japan after Saudi Arabia.
The Cosmo subsidiary, Abu Dhabi Oil Co, has been looking for a 30-year extension after its current contracts expire in 2012. [ID:nTOE64O075]
ADNOC’s head also said that Abu Dhabi Oil Co would be granted a new concession area, as expected, the official said.
To back up Japanese companies’ oil production in the Emirate, state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in November granted ADNOC a $3 billion loan co-financed with five banks. [ID:nLDE6A71SH]
Ohata is also visiting Saudi Arabia and Iraq on his current trip.
At a joint news conference on Monday, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani said pre-qualified Japanese companies would be invited to bid this year to develop the giant Nassiriya oilfield. [ID:nRAS042749]
The two governments also confirmed they would prepare a feasibility study on the construction of a large-scale thermal power station in southern Iraq. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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