KUALA LUMPUR: National oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has announced a gas discovery in the shallow waters of the Balingian province, about 170km northwest of Sarawak.
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It said its subsidiary, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB), made the discovery at Block SK411 of the Hadrah-1 wildcat exploration well in November.
Petronas said the well was successfully drilled to a total depth of 1,850m and gas was encountered “within an approximately 200m-thick sequence of high-quality sandstone and carbonate reservoirs”.
It was Petronas’ third gas discovery in the province last year, after the ones at Sirung-1 and Kulintang-1 in March and May, respectively. In 2019, oil and gas were also discovered in the nearby D18 field.
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PCSB is the operator of Block SK411, with 90% participating interest in its production sharing contract. The remaining 10% is held by E&P Malaysia Venture Sdn Bhd.
Petronas’ vice-president (exploration and upstream), Emeliana Rice-Oxley, said the gas discovery “further proves the promising prospectivity in the underexplored Cycle I, II and III plays within the Balingian province”.
“The excellent quality of reservoirs encountered augurs well for the remaining potential in the surrounding areas, with PCSB well positioned to pursue the untapped similar plays in Blocks SK411 and SK306.
“We look forward to delivering more natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, safely and reliably to the market,” she said in a statement.-BERNAMA