KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has awarded two exploration blocks - Blocks SB307 and SB308 - offshore Sabah under a single production sharing contract (PSC) to a partnership comprising Lundin Malaysia B.V., Nio Petroleum Ltd, and Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.
Petronas said on Wednesday, May 19 that Blocks SB307 and SB308 measured about 6,230 sq km and was located in water depths of up to 70 metres.
It said both blocks had been explored since 1965 and had led to the discovery of the producing Barton, South Furious and St Joseph fields, currently operated by Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Ltd under a different PSC.
The PSC was signed here on Wednesday, with Petronas being represented by its vice president of exploration business Ramlan A Malek, Lundin Malaysia by its president/CEO Ashley Heppenstall, Nio Petroleum by its CEO Richard Hall; and Petronas Carigali by its managing director and CEO Datuk Abdullah Karim.
Petronas said under the terms of the PSC, Lundin Malaysia, with a participating interest of 42.5% would operate both blocks.
Nio Petroleum, a newcomer to the Malaysian E&P scene, will own another 42.5% interest whereas Petronas' exploration and production arm Petronas Carigali, will own the remaining 15%.
Petronas said the contractors were committed to drill one wildcat well to a minimum aggregate depth of 1,800 metres subsea, reprocess existing 400 line-km of 2D seismic data (for SB307) and 800 sqkm of 3D seismic data (for SB308), conduct geological and geophysical studies as well as to execute a development feasibility study for an existing discovered field in the blocks.
It added that the contractors’ minimum financial commitment was US$8 million.