Shell, Petronas to develop Malaysian gas field project

Market: Natural gas
05/09/22

Shell's Malaysian subsidiary Sarawak Shell (SSB) and Petronas Carigali (PCSB), a subsidiary of Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petronas, has taken a final investment decision to develop the Rosmari-Marjoram gas field project in Sarawak state.

The gas fields are situated 220km off the coast of Bintulu, Sarawak. The project is designed to produce 800mn ft³/d (22.6mn m³/d) and gas production is expected to start in 2026, Shell said on 5 September.

The development is also meant to ensure a sustained supply of gas to the 30mn t/yr Petronas LNG complex in Bintulu.

This is essential especially in light of a series of production issues at the Pegaga gas field offshore Sarawak, which also supplies gas to the Bintulu LNG plant. The field restarted production on 21 March.

Petronas also sought to delay the delivery of at least one buyer's June-July term cargo from the Bintulu project back in April, citing unspecified upstream issues.

There has since been no other request to delay term deliveries, but at least one offtaker has received a request to take volumes contracted for December this year or January next year ahead of schedule in October or November instead, market participants said. Winter deliveries from the facility still appear to be limited, participants added.

Rosmari and Marjoram are deepwater sour gas fields that were first discovered in 2014. The project consists of a subsea tie-back, an unmanned wellhead platform, a 207km pipeline to shore and an onshore gas plant at Bintulu. South Korea's Samsung Engineering said in July that it had won an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract from SSB to build the onshore gas plant for the Rosmari-Marjoram project. The plant will have a capacity to process up to 800mn ft³/d of gas, Samsung Engineering said without providing timeline details.

Operations at the Rosmari-Marjoram project will be primarily powered by renewable energy, Shell said. The offshore platform will be powered by 240 solar panels, while the onshore plant is connected to the Sarawak grid system that is supplied mainly by hydroelectric plants.

SSB has an 80pc operating stake in the project, while PCSB will hold the remaining 20pc stake.

By Subethira Ahrumugam

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