Fugro wraps up second seep hunting campaign for Petronas

Dutch geotechnical services provider Fugro has completed the second of three Malaysian seep hunting and geochemical campaigns for Petronas, Malaysia’s oil and gas company.

The first campaign was conducted offshore Sabah, Malaysia, and took place between December 2018 and March 2019.

The second campaign was located offshore Sarawak, Malaysia and began on May 8, 2019, onboard the Fugro Equator vessel.

Fugro said on Thursday that acquired geophysical data included over 15 000 km2 of multibeam echosounder (MBES) data providing bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and water column information. More than 40 discreet water column anomalies, potential locations of active hydrocarbon seepage, were identified.

Using the MBES data in combination with over 3600 line-km of sub-bottom profiler data, Fugro and Petronas’ geoscientists identified 350 locations for coring and geochemical analysis.

The Fugro Equinox mobilized on May 29, 2019, targeted these locations: over the course of two months, 275 piston cores were acquired and more than 1600 near-real-time geochemical analyses – including headspace gas, total scanning fluorescence and extracted hydrocarbon gas chromatography (C15+) – were conducted.

Following the Sarawak campaign, En Amiruddin Mansor, Head, Basin Strategy and Management, Resource Exploration, Malaysia Petroleum Management Petronas, stated: “The results from deepwater Sarawak campaign have been exciting to receive in near-real time, and it was executed successfully, within the set timeline, with excellent health, safety and environment (HSE) compliance.

“The onboard geochemical analyses were very helpful in providing early results to accelerate our project timeline. The results from these campaigns have all been positive and will enhance our open block’s attractiveness for future block promotion and exploration activities.”

The third seep hunting and geochemical campaign for Petronas will begin in 3Q 2019 and will take place offshore Peninsular Malaysia in the Straits of Malacca.

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