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Malaysia: Deepwater to generate 30-40% of Malaysia oil output by 2020:official

https://www.chemnet.com   Jul 28,2010
Production from deepwater fields is expected to account for 30-40% of
Malaysia's total oil production by 2020, a senior official from Petronas
Carigali, the upstream arm of national oil company Petronas, said Tuesday.


Malaysia's oil production currently stands at around 650,000 b/d and gas
production at around 5.8 Bcf/d.


"The future for deepwater drilling in quite bright in Malaysia and the
country is well positioned to be the regional deepwater center," Rosli Hamzah,
head of the deepwater department at Petronas Carigali, told delegates at IBC's
Deepwater Drilling Rig Outlook conference in Singapore.


Deepwater resources, most of which are offshore Sabah in eastern
Malaysia, account for 65% of all undiscovered oil and 43% of undiscovered gas
in the country, Platts reported earlier.


Hamzah said that Malaysia has so far awarded 23 deepwater production
sharing contracts of which 16 are active, while seven have been relinquished.
Most of the deepwater blocks are in the exploration stage, which indicate the
scope of growth in production, he added.


Hamzah also said that there are seven new deepwater blocks available in
Malaysia.


It currently has only one deepwater field in production -- the Kikeh
field offshore Sabah, which came on stream in the third quarter of 2007 and
produces an average of 115,000-120,000 b/d of light, sweet crude.


The Gumsut-Kakap field, which lies 120 kilometers offshore Sabah, is
likely to be the next one to enter production around 2012-13, Hamzah told
delegates. Shell has a 40% operating interest in Gumsut-Kakap with
ConocoPhillips (40%) and Petronas Carigali (20%). The field is expected to
produce 135,000 b/d and reserves are estimated at 536 million barrels of oil
equivalent, Platts reported earlier.


Other exploration projects in Sabah include the Shell-operated Malikai
deepwater project with 108 million barrels of oil equivalent of reserves;
Shell-operated Ubah Crest and Pisangan oil fields; ConocoPhillips' 2.2 Tcf
Kebabangan and Shell's 2.2 Tcf Kamunsu gas projects.


These projects are in the planning stage. The companies are negotiating
commercial terms before starting field development planning, Hamzah said.


Separately, he said that oil and gas produced offshore Sabah will be
processed through the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal located at Kimanis.


Malaysia is currently evaluating bids for the construction of the
terminal. The contract is expected to be awarded by September with a targeted
completion date of late 2013, Platts reported earlier.


According to information on Petronas' website, the SOGT will have the
capacity to handle up to 300,000 b/d of crude oil and 1 Bcf/d of gas. The
crude oil and condensate received and stored at the terminal will be loaded
onto vessels for export through single point moorings located about 10 km
offshore Kimanis. Gas from the SOGT will be transported via the 500 km
Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline to Petronas' LNG complex at Bintulu.
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