As oil prices continue their ascent, trading houses are stepping up efforts to gain a foothold in the Middle East, Russia, Brazil and other regions with promising resources.  Marubeni has agreed to acquire from major Austrian oil company OMV concessions of 7.5 per cent apiece in Block 12, an already-producing oil field, and Block 13, a field still undeveloped, in the Gulf for an estimated 2 billion yen.

The remainder of the concessions on the two fields is held by U.S. firm Anadarko Petroleum Corp.  Block 12’s current production of 15,000 barrels of oil a day is expected to increase to 25,000 a day at the end of 2006, with Marubeni’s portion reaching about 1,900.  Marubeni and Anadarko will invest more than 20 billion yen from the second half of this year for prospecting work in Block 13, including test well drilling.   By shifting its focus to the development of deposits in the Middle East as well as North and West Africa, the company aims to boost its production from 40,000 barrels a day to 50,000 during the current fiscal year.    Mitsubishi Corp. , Mitsui, Sumitomo and others have submitted bids for development rights in deep-sea oil fields in Brazil managed by state-run oil company Petrobras SA. Japan and Brazil agreed to jointly develop the fields.