Thursday 20 May 2010

Petronas awards 2 exploration blocks to Lundin Petroleum, Nio Petroleum and Petronas Carigali

PETRONAS today awarded 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.

Blocks SB307 and SB308 measure approximately 6,230 sq km and is located in water depths of up to 70 metres. Both blocks have been explored since 1965 and have 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.

Under the terms of the PSC awarded today, Lundin Malaysia, with the participating interest of 42.5 per cent, will operate both blocks. Nio Petroleum, a newcomer to the Malaysian E&P scene, will own another 42.5 per cent interest whereas PETRONAS Carigali, the exploration and production arm of PETRONAS, will own the remaining 15 per cent interest.

The contractors are 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. The contractors’ minimum financial commitment is US$8 million.

The PSC was signed today at the PETRONAS Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. PETRONAS was represented by its Vice President of Exploration Business Encik Ramlan A. Malek; Lundin Malaysia by its President/CEO Mr. Ashley Heppenstall; Nio Petroleum by its CEO Mr Richard Hall; and PETRONAS Carigali by its Managing Director/CEO Datuk Abdullah Karim.

Issued by
Corporate Communications Department
Group Corporate Affairs
PETRONAS

Monday 10 May 2010

TDW completes pipeline pressure isolation work


TDW Offshore Services AS has completed a pipeline pressure isolation and joint testing operation at Sarawak Shell Berhad’s gas facilities, located offshore western Borneo in Malaysia.

The work was carried out on Shell’s platform F23P-A, located 80 to 200 km from Miri and Bintulu.

TDW used its SmartPlug isolation tool to isolate a section of a the gas export pipeline that required a new valve. The gas export line forms part of the pipeline that runs from the F23P-A to the E11R-A platform. This network extends to one of the major trunklines connected to an LNG plant onshore in Bintulu.

The pipeline isolation enabled Shell to install a motor-operated valve in preparation for installation of a new compressor module. The affected portion of the gas export pipeline was safely isolated for a period of one month while testing and valve installation took place.

TDW’s isolation operation was carried out as part of a three-year agreement with Shell to provide pipeline pressure isolation and hot tapping services.

Saturday 8 May 2010

Aker Solutions awarded Kebabangan Northern Hub development project

Aker Solutions has been selected by Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company Sdn Bhd (KPOC) as its contractor for the detailed engineering of the Kebabangan (KBB) Northern Hub development project located in the South China Sea, 130km offshore Sabah in East Malaysia.

Under the four-year contract, Aker Solutions operations in Malaysia will provide detailed design and engineering support through to the start up phase of project. Aker Solutions estimates the contract value to be approximately NOK 170 million.

"Expanding our international operations is high on our agenda. Being selected as key contractor for detail engineering on this important project demonstrates that we have succeeded in establishing a competitive delivery model within detail engineering for the highly competitive Malaysian market and enables us to further develop our execution arm in our target markets in South East Asia and Australia", says Jarle Tautra, executive vice president in Aker Solutions.

The KBB facility comprises single integrated drilling, oil and gas production, utilities and quarters (PDUQ) topsides mounted on a fixed 8-leg jacket in 142m of water. The gas and oil will be evacuated via 135 km export lines to shore. The Shell-operated Malikai deep water field will be tied in via separate partially- stabilised liquid and dry gas lines shortly after first gas from KBB.

The topsides weight is estimated to be 17,000 MT and is designed to be installed by the floatover method. The jacket weight is estimated to be 14,000 MT and will be launch-installed.

Ravi Kashyap, President for Aker Solutions' field development operations in Malaysia says: "We thank KPOC for demonstrating their confidence in Aker Solutions. We have successfully completed the concept study and FEED for this project and look forward to further building on our relationship with KPOC in this critical phase of the development."

KPOC, comprising PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (40%), ConocoPhillips Sabah Gas Ltd (30%) and Shell Energy Asia Limited (30%), will operate the Kebabangan field. KBB will be a hub for the development of deep water and on-shelf gas and oil assets offshore Northern Sabah.

Aker Solutions has a track record that spans 20 years in Malaysia.