Kyodo News reported that major oil explorer Inpex Corporation and trading house Itochu Corporation have hiked their stakes in an oil field in the Caspian Sea by purchasing part of the stake held by US energy company Devon Energy Corporation.

The transactions increased Inpex's stake in the Azeri Chirag Gunashli offshore oil field in Azerbaijan from 10% to 10.9644% and Itochu's stake from 3.9205% to 4.2986%.

In April 2010, Devon informed all stakeholders in the ACG field of its decision to sell off its 5.6262% stake and pull out of the field in line with a joint operating agreement among the stakeholders.

Four of the stakeholders Inpex, Itochu, Chevron and BP purchased additional stakes in the field, which currently produces 830,000 barrels per day.

Inpex added that BP, the top stakeholder, increased its stake to 37.43%.

(Sourced from Kyodo News)