据海上工程师网2022年1月18日东京报道，日本最大的石油和天然气勘探公司Inpex将在今年3月至7月在日本西部海域进行海上天然气勘探钻井作业，希望能找到天然气。

Inpex周一在一份声明中称，这个钻探天然气项目位于山口县和岛根县附近，如果成功，预计将有助于提高日本的能源自给率。

日本外务省官员周二表示，这将是自1990年日本中部新泻县附近的一个天然气项目投产以来，日本首次进行海上勘探。这个项目由日本石油勘探公司（Japex）运营。  

Inpex一位发言人表示，这将是自1984年至2007年日本北部福岛县近海的一个项目生产天然气以来，该公司在日本进行的首次海上天然气勘探作业。  

根据日本内阁去年10月批准的一项基本能源计划，能源资源贫乏的日本计划到2040年前将石油和天然气的自给率(包括日本公司在海外上游项目中持有的股份)从2019年的34.7%提高到60%或更多。

这名官员表示，日本政府自2000年以来对山口县/岛根县地区进行了一些地球物理勘探和评估，这提高了对该地区天然气资源的预期。

Inpex拒绝评论此次勘探作业的成本，但官员说，包括分析和评估在未来几年内，它将花费330亿日元(2.88亿美元，其中一半将由日本政府支持的日本石油、天然气和金属国家公司(JOGMEC)补贴。

这位官员说，如果发现足够的天然气储量和商业化所需的经济效益得到证实，这个项目预计每年将生产约90万吨天然气，并将日本国内天然气自给率从目前的2.2%提高到3.4%。 (1美元= 114.4800日元)  

李峻 编译自 海上工程师网

韵文如下：

Inpex to Drill for Gas Offshore Japan

Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp will conduct exploratory offshore drilling off western Japan from March to July in the hope of finding natural gas, the company and a ministry of industry official said.

The project, off the Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures, if successful, is expected to help improve the country's energy self-sufficiency rate, Inpex said in a statement on Monday.

It will be the first offshore exploration in Japan since a gas project, off Niigata prefecture in central Japan, operated by Japan Petroleum Exploration, started production in 1990, the ministry official said on Tuesday.

For Inpex, it will be the first offshore gas exploration in Japan since a project off the coast of Fukushima prefecture in northern Japan produced gas between 1984 and 2007, a company spokesperson said.

Under a basic energy plan approved by the cabinet in October, resource-poor Japan aims to raise its rate of self-sufficiency for oil and gas, including stakes held by Japanese companies in overseas upstream projects, to 60% or more by 2040 from 34.7% in 2019.

The government has conducted some geophysical exploration and evaluation on the Yamaguchi/Shimane area since the 2000s, which raised the expectation gas resources are there, the ministry official said.

Inpex declined to comment on the cost of the work but the ministry official said that, including analysis and evaluations over the next few years, it was expected to cost 33 billion yen ($288 million), half of which will be subsidized by the state-backed Japan Oil, Gas and metals National Corp (JOGMEC).

If sufficient quantities of gas and the economics necessary for commercialization are proven, the project is expected to produce about 900,000 tonnes of gas a year and boost Japan's domestic self-sufficiency rate of gas to 3.4% from 2.2% now, the official said. ($1 = 114.4800 yen)