Petronas sees 200 million stb on peninsular block

May 20, 2013
Persistent exploration and drilling have resulted in a recoverable resource of more than 200 million stb of oil on Block PM304 off Peninsular Malaysia compared with the initial estimate of 12 million stb of oil for Cendor field a decade ago.

Persistent exploration and drilling have resulted in a recoverable resource of more than 200 million stb of oil on Block PM304 off Peninsular Malaysia compared with the initial estimate of 12 million stb of oil for Cendor field a decade ago.

The same persistence has built Cendor, initially taken to be a marginal resource, into one of Malaysia's largest fields, said Petroliam Nasional Bhd.

The most recent appraisal well, Cendor Graben-2, went to a total depth of more than 1,000 m and has confirmed the presence of oil and gas-bearing reservoirs. Petrofac (Malaysia PM304) Ltd. operates Block PM304, and its joint venture partners are Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd., Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co., and PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corp. Ltd.

Amerada Hess Corp. discovered Cendor field in 2001 but deemed it too risky and uneconomic to develop (OGJ Online, Mar. 23, 2001). Petrofac acquired Amerada Hess' interest in May 2004 and assumed operatorship of Block PM304 (OGJ Online, July 6, 2004).

Cendor was developed using leased mobile operating production unit (MOPU), and first oil was achieved in September 2006 (OGJ Online, Nov. 13, 2006). This was the first application of MOPU in Malaysia and was considered a novel development solution then (see map, OGJ, Dec. 4, 2006). Since going on production, Cendor has performed above expectation, which helped spur further activities in the field and surrounding areas of the block. These culminated in Cendor Phase 2 development and other new projects that have increased the block's estimated recoverable resource to more than 200 million stb.

The other developments in PM304, fast-tracked in the last 2 years, are expected to commence production in stages throughout the year and are to propel production to 30,000 b/d by the end of 2013, Petronas said.

Petronas said it is also experiencing production growth in other fields such as those in the Berantai RSC and Balai RSC.

Berantai field, which went on production in 2012, achieved a 15% increase in estimated recoverable gas resources compared with 2011 as a result of development efforts. And predevelopment work at the Balai Cluster has also given early indication of increase in resources estimates, the company said without giving figures.

Petronas will receive 100% entitlement to the production from the Berantai and Balai RSCs.