The Walker Ridge blocks cover an area of 87 sq km, with a water depth at around 1,800m, and are located 280km off the coast of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Shell, the operator, has a 70% participating interest in the blocks and the remaining 15% is held by Anadarko Petroleum.
The partners plan to drill an exploratory well in the blocks during the first half of 2011.
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National (Jogmec) will provide equity financing for Inpex’s involvement in the Walker Ridge exploration project.
Inpex has participated in oil and gas development projects in the shallow waters of the US Gulf of Mexico since April 2006.
Inpex Corp is an international oil and gas exploration and production company with more than 70 projects across 26 countries.
