Malaysia's Petronas signs PSCs to boost gas supply

Malaysia's state-owned Petronas, through Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), has signed production sharing contracts (PSCs) for two discovered resource opportunity (DRO) clusters with potential gas reserves offshore peninsular Malaysia.

The BIGST DRO cluster has an estimated recovery of 4 trillion ft³, and was awarded to Petronas Carigali and upstream firm JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration, each with a 50pc participating interest. The cluster is made up of five undeveloped high-CO2 gas fields, namely the Bujang, Inas, Guling, Sepat and Tujoh fields.

"While the development of resources remains crucial to ensure energy security, we are also taking deliberate efforts towards achieving our targets to manage emissions from operations," said MPM's senior vice-president Bacho Pilong. Petronas is therefore incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology into the development of the BIGST cluster, he added. This would make it the first high-CO2 gas development in peninsular Malaysia that incorporates CCS, according to Petronas.

The Tembakau cluster comprises two undeveloped sweet gas fields and has an estimated recovery of 260bn ft³. It was awarded to oil and gas exploration firm International Petroleum (IPC) Malaysia and IPC SEA, which have 90pc and 10pc shares respectively.

The monetisation of these clusters "will significantly boost gas supply to the peninsular Malaysia hub," said Petronas. Fossil fuels will remain in Malaysia's energy mix, and Petronas intends to continue investing in gas exploration and production to ensure energy security. Petronas manages Malaysia's oil resources through MPM.

By Prethika Nair