‘Significant’ new oil & gas discovery offshore Malaysia

Petronas Carigali (PCSB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-owned energy giant Petronas, has made a new oil and gas discovery in Block SK 306, offshore Malaysia.

Petronas announced the oil and gas discovery at the Nahara-1 well in Block SK 306 on Wednesday. PCSB is the operator of the block, with 100 per cent participating interest in its Production Sharing Contract (PSC). 

Mohd Redhani Abdul Rahman, Petronas’ Vice President of Exploration, remarked: “We are excited with this discovery and its impact to the future exploration effort in the surrounding areas. Nahara-1 is a significant oil discovery by PCSB within the last decade. It is a testament to the vast potential in Malaysia’s prolific basins which remain highly prospective.”

Located in the shallow waters of Balingian Province, about 150 kilometres from Bintulu, off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia, the Nahara-1 well was successfully drilled to a total depth of 2,468 metres and encountered hydrocarbon in the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene aged sedimentary sequences. Petronas confirmed that light oil with minimal contaminants was also established after production testing was conducted for the well.

“The discovery also reinforces PCSB’s current exploration strategy of renewing focus in its exploration efforts in Malaysia’s basins,” added Rahman.  

This discovery comes less than two months after Petronas inked two deals with Petroleum Sarawak (Petros) to scale up the sustainable development of Sarawak’s energy industry.

These deals are expected to accelerate the Sarawak Gas Roadmap (SGR), which encompasses a 10-year period, combining the potential of four strategic hubs to realise the full potential of Sarawak’s gas resources and drive step-change progress in domestic gas.

At the time, Petronas and Petros disclosed that they intended to work closely to establish carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a new business opportunity through a roadmap study for a CCS ecosystem, “positioning Sarawak as a regional sequestration hub.”

Shortly after this announcement, Petronas made a final investment decision (FID) to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project off Sarawak.

In addition, the firm awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract for the project to Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB).