Rig and drilling site search next on Inpex’s deepwater oil & gas exploration agenda in Malaysia

October 13, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Seascape Energy Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southeast Asia-focused E&P company Seascape Energy, has confirmed the green light for the entry into the second exploration phase of a production sharing contract (PSC) for a deepwater block, operated by Japan’s Inpex, enabling the drilling of a prospect off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Petronas' Malaysian LNG Complex at Bintulu, Sarawak; Source: Petronas

According to Seascape Energy Asia, its joint venture (JV) partners – Inpex, Petronas Carigali, and Petros – in the deepwater Block 2A PSC have given their blessing for entry into the second exploration phase of the PSC and drilling of the giant Kertang prospect, subject to formal approval from Petronas’ Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM). As a result, the exact timing of drilling operations remains unknown.

The company explains that this formal commitment allows the joint venture to focus on securing a suitable drilling rig and identifying the precise drilling location to test the Kertang structure, which has over 200 square kilometers of four-way dip closure and total unrisked mean prospective resources over 9 trillion cubic feet (TCF), based on a Competent Person’s Report (CPR) undertaken by ERCE Sproule.

Nick Ingrassia, CEO of Seascape, commented:“The firm commitment to drilling the world-class Kertang prospect on Block 2A, one of the largest undrilled structures in Malaysia, is an important step not only for Seascape and the Block 2A partners but also for testing the significant potential for giant gas discoveries in the wider North Luconia basin, off the coast of Sarawak, offshore Malaysia, which has seen some of the highest exploration success rates in Southeast Asia in recent years.”

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The second exploration phase covers a firm, minimum work commitment of one wildcat exploration well and a contingent appraisal well. Seascape, through a wholly owned subsidiary, remains fully carried by Inpex on an uncapped basis through the entire second exploration phase for its retained 10% participating interest.

The firm, which claims that this provides its shareholders with material exposure to the Kertang prospect at nil cost, anticipates the well to be part of a wider deepwater exploration drilling campaign across multiple blocks in Malaysia during 2026 and 2027 to be undertaken by Inpex as Block 2A operator.

“Seascape remains focused on maintaining momentum across its portfolio into 2026 and beyond, exposing shareholders to the significant upside available across its existing portfolio, including the recently secured Temaris PSC, and multiple growth opportunities it is currently pursuing,” added Ingrassia.

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Block 2A is situated offshore Malaysia in the North Luconia hydrocarbon province, covering approximately 12,000 square kilometers in water depths between 100 -1,400 meters. This block, which contains the Kertang prospect, located across four Oligo-Miocene reservoirs, was originally awarded to Seascape Energy in February 2023 as part of the Malaysian Bid Round 2022 (MBR 2022).

This is a well-defined, large, four-way dip structural high with over 200 square kilometers of closure, covered by high-quality, wide-beam 3D seismic shot by CGG in 2015. It is said to exhibit direct hydrocarbon indicators (DHIs), including an overlying gas cloud feature and amplitude brights.

The CPR undertaken by Sproule ERCE on Kertang in 2024 assigns total gross, unrisked mean prospective resources of 9.1 TCF plus 146 mmbbl of NGLs (around 1.7 billion boe), with a chance of success of approximately 20%.