BHP sells 15% of Namibia oil blocks

TOKYO – Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-biggest trading company, said yesterday it had acquired a 15 per cent interest in oil and gas exploration blocks in Namibia from BHP Billiton for an undisclosed sum.

The acquired interest is for the Northern block and Southern block, located 220 km southwest off the coast of Namibia. Decisions for test drillings and further explorations will be made after analysis, Mitsui said in a statement.BHP Billiton signed petroleum exploration agreements with the Ministry of Mines and Energy mid last year, to search for oil and gas in the Orange Basin.The group’s petroleum projects are situated in Australia, the US, the Gulf of Mexico, Pakistan, Algeria, Trinidad and the UK North Sea.BHP Billiton has also been active with deep-water exploration in South African offshore fields.Mitsui will garner nearly 60 per cent of its expected net profit from its oil, gas, metal and mining sectors in the year to March 2007.It is boosting oil production volume due in part to the start in July of operations at the Enfield oil project offshore Western Australia, a project owned jointly with Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd.Mitsui has partnered with BHP Billiton in the liquefied natural gas project in North West Shelf in Australia.Nampa-Reuters, Own ReporterDecisions for test drillings and further explorations will be made after analysis, Mitsui said in a statement.BHP Billiton signed petroleum exploration agreements with the Ministry of Mines and Energy mid last year, to search for oil and gas in the Orange Basin.The group’s petroleum projects are situated in Australia, the US, the Gulf of Mexico, Pakistan, Algeria, Trinidad and the UK North Sea.BHP Billiton has also been active with deep-water exploration in South African offshore fields.Mitsui will garner nearly 60 per cent of its expected net profit from its oil, gas, metal and mining sectors in the year to March 2007.It is boosting oil production volume due in part to the start in July of operations at the Enfield oil project offshore Western Australia, a project owned jointly with Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd.Mitsui has partnered with BHP Billiton in the liquefied natural gas project in North West Shelf in Australia.Nampa-Reuters, Own Reporter