Saturday 27 August 2011

PETRONAS scores natural gas in two exploration wells off Sabah

PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd reports two natural gas discoveries in shallow water off western Sabah.

The Zuhal East-1 discovery is in the Samarang Asam Paya block about 130 km (81 mi) southwest of Kota Kinabalu in water depth of 38 m (125 ft) and reached a total depth of 2,336 m (7,664 ft). The current estimate of gas-initially-in-place is about 550 bcf. PETRONAS Carigali is the sole equity holder in the block.

The second discovery, the Menggatal-1 well, is in block SB312, about 110 km (68 mi) northeast of Kota Kinabalu. The well is in water depth of 204 m (787 ft) and reached a total depth of 2,100 m (6,890 ft). It was production-tested and flowed gas at a rate of 19 MMcf/d through a 36/64-in choke with no recorded CO2 or H2S content. Gas-initially-in-place is currently estimated to be about 650 bcf.

Block SB312 PSC is a joint-venture between PETRONAS Carigali with 60% equity and KUFPEC Malaysia (SB 312) Ltd, a subsidiary of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC).

Further appraisals are being planned in the near future to delineate the extent of these discoveries.