Petronas Hits Paydirt Offshore Malaysia

Petronas' exploration and production arm Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd has made a significant oil discovery offshore Sabah. The discovery was made via the Wakid-1 well within Block 2G-2J, about 100km northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

The well was spudded on May 30, 2011 and was completed on July 4, 2011. It reached a total vertical depth of 3,330m and confirmed the presence of significant oil, and some gas-bearing, reservoirs. Three production tests were conducted in three different reservoirs which flowed oil at a combined maximum rate of 8,200 barrels per day.

Current preliminary estimation of the hydrocarbon-in-place from this discovery is 227 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), with expected upside potential. Petronas Carigali plans to further appraise the discovery in the near future. Wakid-1 is the second well drilled in Block 2G-2J since the award of its Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in October 2010.

The block's first well, Tambuku-1, was drilled early this year, but yielded only minor gas discovery. Petronas Carigali is the sole equity holder of the PSC for the block.