Japan's Indonesia Petroleum considering going public

Japan's Indonesia Petroleum considering going public

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Japan's Indonesia Petroleum Ltd., commonly known as Inpex, is considering listing its shares, although no specific date for the proposed listing has been decided yet, a senior executive said Monday.

Capitalized at about Y30 billion, Inpex, which is 50 percent- controlled by state-run Japan National Oil Corp., produces gas and oil mainly in Indonesia. It also operates in other areas such as East Timor, northwestern Australia and Brazil.

Other shareholders in Inpex include Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., or Japex, Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., and major trading houses - Mitsubishi Corp., Marubeni Corp. and Sumitomo Corp.

Yusuke Sawatari, Inpex's executive senior managing director, told reporters that he expects the share listing to take place no earlier than the end of 2003. "We must reorganize the company structure" prior to the listing, he said.

In a move to reflect the company's diversified businesses into areas other than Indonesia, Inpex plans to change its name to Inpex Corp. effective Aug. 1 or Sep. 1, following a decision by a shareholders' meeting scheduled for Jun. 22, Sawatari said.

The company also aims to enter new businesses overseas including electricity and heating related projects, and water desalination projects in the middle east.

In the year ended in March, Inpex produced 3.35 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas and 110,000 barrels a day of crude oil from its core projects - the Attaka Unit and the Mahakam Block offshore East Kalimantan in Indonesia.

For the just-ended fiscal year, Inpex on Monday reported robust earnings results, citing the favorable impact of strong crude oil prices.

It posted a parent pretax profit of Y98.92 billion, up 70.8 percent from a year earlier. Net profit soared 37.5 percent to Y27.48 billion, the highest level since the year ended in March 1985, when the company had a net profit of Y31.02 billion.

Its sales totaled Y155.57 billion, up 43.9 percent from a year before.