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