Japan’s JX Nippon OIl & Energy is expected to award a contract by September to a selected engineering outfit to carry out conceptual studies for the Layang oil and gas development in Block SK-10 off Sarawak, Malaysia, writes Tan Hwee Hwee.
The Japanese oil and gas operator has called bids for a two-month study to decide between two proposed development options.
Bids from the engineering companies taking part were understood to have been due in late July, with the contract award projected by late September.
The Malaysian unit of France’s Technip has been tipped as the early frontrunner, given its ongoing umbrella contract with JX Nippon.
The winning contractor will evaluate the two options for the processing of output — using a leased floating production, storage and offloading vessel or a new process platform to be bridge-linked to the existing Helang integrated processing platform.
The proposed floating production option calls for crude and condensate flowing from a new wellhead platform at Layang to be offloaded on to shuttle tankers for export to refineries.
The bridged platform option involves the transport of the liquids output from the Layang wellhead platform using a newly-installed subsea pipeline to Petronas Carigali’s Baram-B wellhead platform, from where it will be exported to the Miri terminal.
Under both scenarios, output will be sent to Shell’s B11 complex for export to MLNG Tiga plant at Petronas’ LNG Complex onshore Bintulu.
JX Nippon has not released any projections for liquids and gas production. However, the Layang field is likely to produce more gas than oil, taking into consideration statistics released on earlier well tests.
The Layang-1 exploration well drilled by JX Nippon, then known as Nippon Oil, in early 1991 flowed 2500 bpd of crude, 4500 barrels of condensate and 38 million cubic feet per day of gas.
