It wasn't the first time, and it will not be the last. Abu Dhabi struck a deal on April 27 with Japan's Inpex, awarding a 5% stake in its giant Adco onshore oil concession for the next 40 years from January 1, 2015.

Just like before, Abu Dhabi's latest announcement on its concession award was as abrupt as it was surprising. This time it was Inpex, a non-traditional oil major, which acquired a 5% stake as the concession's second international partner after France's Total, and will continue as an Adco partner under a December 2014 law founding a new Adco entity.

For Abu Dhabi, it was understood to be selecting a 40-year-long partner to develop what has been described as 'its wealth' in the Adco onshore concessions.

Although Inpex was reportedly a strong bidder for the Adco oil concession, its award was a surprise in the sense that it had secured the concession ahead of other competitive contenders: BP, Shell, Occidental Petroleum, Statoil, Eni, Rosneft, China National Petroleum Corp. and Korea National Oil Corp.

But for close Abu Dhabi oil observers, it was not a complete surprise that Inpex had won the concession as its wholly-owned subsidiary Japan Oil Development Co. has been in Abu Dhabi's offshore oil development since 1973.

Following the latest deal, Inpex has become the only international oil company to take part in all three of Abu Dhabi's three major producing concessions - the other two being the Adma-Opco and Upper Zakum concessions, which account for a majority of the emirate's total output.

For Tokyo, the Inpex deal is a landmark as Japan's first foray into one of the world's largest producing oil areas. Inpex is Japan's largest upstream company in which the country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry holds around a 19% stake.

Inpex will now be able to market as much as 80,000-90,000 b/d of Murban crude - one of Japan's most popular crudes - by 2017.

This means Inpex will be able to offer around five cargoes a month from the Adco concession, which currently supplies 60% of output destined for export to Fujairah, on the UAE's Arabian Sea coast, with the balance shipped from Jebel Dhanna in the Persian Gulf, according to a market source.

This is an important strategic factor to bear in mind. Murban is a light sweet crude with an API of 40.2 degrees and a sulfur content of 0.79% that loads out of the UAE's Jebel Dhanna and Fujairah export terminals. It primarily moves east.

Starting in the summer of 2012, a new pipeline running from Abu Dhabi's major onshore oil fields has been delivering a large portion of Abu Dhabi's onshore crude output to an export terminal at Fujairah bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

It was also the first instance of a Japanese company acquiring equity in the Middle East, where it can secure shipments without having to pass the Strait of Hormuz.

With Japan relying around 83% of its total crude imports from the Middle East, this can only enhance the country's energy security.

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