Offshore staff
KUALA LUMPUR — Petronas and others have made 19 exploration discoveries and two confirmed exploration-appraisal finds offshore Malaysia this year, proving more than 1 Bboe of new resources.
The 25 exploration wells drilled in the year to date represent the highest total in a single year since 2015, Petronas added.
Over half this year’s finds have been in the offshore Sarawak Basin, mainly in two clusters within the Balingian and West Luconia geological provinces.
Stand-out discoveries were Gedombak-1, Sinsing-1, Machinchang-1 and Mirdanga-1, operated by Petronas Carigali, and PTTEP’s Babadon-1 and Chenda-1.
Petronas Carigali also had successes in the Northwest Sabah Basin with Layang-Layang-1, Hikmat-1 and Dermawan-1, demonstrating a working petroleum system with potential for further opportunities in the ultra-deepwater and deepwater areas.
Another campaign is underway in the same basin in shallow waters off the coast of Sabah.
In the Malay Basin, Hibiscus Oil & Gas found gas with the Bunga Lavatera-1 well close to the PM3 hub, later bringing it onstream at around 50 MMcf/d. PTTEP proved oil and gas with Simpoh Beludu-1 in a hydrocarbon-filled reservoir in the deeper Group K sands.
Mohamed Firouz Asnan, Petronas senior vice president of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), said, “This significant exploration success validates our belief that there is more potential within the so-called matured Malaysia’s basins, using new 3D seismic data and the latest software technologies to better detect deeper hydrocarbon potentials.
“We fully support our partners’ adoption of new exploration strategies which focus on near-field potential, that will enable quicker monetization of the discoveries…
“MPM will be launching the next series of the Malaysia Bid Round early next year, offering more exploration blocks and discovered resources opportunities to potential investors."
12.04.2023
