PTTEP Makes Record Gas Discovery


Expected to Spur Upstream Opportunities in Offshore Malaysia

Oil and gas firm PTT Exploration and Production has announced its largest discovery to date, estimated at roughly 2 trillion cubic feet, in offshore Malaysia.

The giant gas reserve is located block SK410B in the offshore Sarawak region of Malaysia, and is reported to be the seventh-largest global discovery of the year

“The discovery is located in the gas-rich Sarawak-Luconia-East Natuna basin, which has enjoyed an exploration success rate of 55 percent over the past 10 years, above the 37 percent global average,” said Huong Tra Ho, senior analyst at research analyst frim Wood Mackenzie.


Big Win

The discovery is expected to spur significant new upstream activity in the region, notably boosting support for breakbulk transport and strengthening PTTEP’s financial position.
 
"For PTTEP, Lang Lebah highlights the company's capability in handling technically challenging reservoirs and reinforces its business development credentials. The discovery is now the largest operated find in company history, ahead of the Zawtika field (~280 mmboe) in Myanmar,” Ho explained, adding that it represented a “big win” for the firm, “which has been aggressively securing resources across Southeast Asia over the past year.”
 
Headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, PTTEP operates 40 petroleum exploration and production projects in 11 countries, 16 of which are in Thailand.


'Clean' Gas Qualities

Situated in the deeper, HP/HT reservoir of the basin, the find appears to have relatively "clean" gas qualities and low impurity content.

"We expect Lang Lebah to have a high chance of commercialisation as feedgas into the Malaysia LNG complex. The plant is in urgent need of new supply as existing sources have only met 85 percent of its requirements in 2018,” Ho said.
 
Legacy fields have largely experienced sand influx and water breakthroughs, with advanced CO2 and H2S processing requirements associated with many of the remaining undeveloped discoveries. Gas quality will thus be crucial to determining the speed and ease of future monetization plans for Lang Lebah, which is also close to existing infrastructure.

“The Miocene carbonate play, in particular, has produced a number of high-profile finds over the years, including Pegaga, B14, Kuang North and Kasawari. But issues around gas impurities and contaminants have stymied development plans for some of the fields,” Ho added.
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