Wednesday 5 February 2014

Murphy, Petronas sanction Malaysia FLNG project, 2018 startup targeted

A final investment decision for the floating LNG liquefaction project at the Rotan field in Malaysia has been reached, and it is on track to achieving first gas by 2018, US company Murphy Oil said Thursday during a presentation to discuss its 2013 financial results.

Murphy operates Block H offshore Sabah, where the gas will be sourced, while Malaysia's state-owned Petronas will operate the 1.5 million mt/year FLNG facility.

On a call with analysts, Murphy CEO Roger Jenkins said the FLNG project "is now fully sanctioned by both parties and the oil-linked gas terms agreed. This is a major milestone for both companies." 

Petronas had said in June last year that it was aiming for FID by the end of 2013.

Jenkins said the project will be a phased development centered around the Rotan discovery and gas resources from three satellite fields -- Alum, Bemban and Buluh.

Petronas awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the FLNG plant to a consortium comprising Japan's Mitsui Ocean Development and Engineering IHI and Toyo Engineering and US-based CB&I in September 2012.

"We are planning on first gas in 2018 with a 10-year peak gas rate near 207 million [cubic feet] a day gross or 150 million [cubic feet] per day net," Jenkins said.

This will be Petronas' second FLNG plant in Malaysia, after it reached an FID in 2012 on a 1.2 million mt/year plant at the Kanowit field offshore Sarawak.

Once onstream, the two FLNG plants will take Malaysia's total LNG production to 28.9 million mt/year, Arif Mahmood, Petronas' vice-president for corporate and strategic planning, had said in June 2013. The LNG produced from the FLNG plants could be sold in the domestic market or overseas, Arif said then.

Meanwhile in neighboring Brunei, Murphy said it has opened up a new gas play with three discoveries in the deepwater CA-2 block, where it has a 30% working interest alongside Petronas and state-owned PetroleumBRUNEI.

"We've successfully followed up the Kelidang discovery in 2013, with two more gas discoveries at Keratau and Kempas at the end of the year ... We now see a potential resource site here of up to 2 Tcf gross, with additional prospects to drill," Jenkins said.

A Murphy corporate presentation last month listed feeding the gas to an existing LNG plant or developing a new FLNG project as the two options for field development.