Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) has agreed to give the oil and gas rights of the Beryl gas field offshore Sarawak in Malaysia to Tokyo-based JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (Malaysia).
The Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm has also approved the field development plan (FDP) for Beryl submitted by the Japanese firm, called in short as NOMA. The Japanese company aims to produce first gas from the offshore field in November 2018.
Contained in Block SK10, Beryl is an already discovered gas field which is yet to be developed. It lies in the same area as Helang gas field and Layang oil and gas field for which NOMA has been carrying out production as an operator.
NOMA owns 75% stake in Block SK10 and is partnered by Petronas Carigali which holds the remaining 25% interest.
As per its FDP, NOMA will use available facilities of Helang to develop Beryl economically and inside a short duration of time.
NOMA has estimated peak production of natural gas from the field to be nearly 140MMscf/d which is equivalent to 23,000boed.
The company plans to supply the gas produced from Beryl and also the Helang and Layang fields through underwater pipelines to the MLNG Tiga liquefaction plant located in Bintulu, Sarawak. NOMA’s sister concern JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy is one of the owners of MLNG Tiga liquefied natural gas (LNG) development.
After liquefaction at MLNG Tiga, the natural gas will be sold as LNG to customers of JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, which includes buyers in Japan.
JX Nippon, in a statement, said: “As per the Medium-Term Management Plan released this year, we will allocate business resources to our focus regions such as Southeast Asia, where we can exercise our strength, pursuing strategy of selection and concentration.
“We intend to maintain and strengthen our long-term good relationships in Malaysia and enhance our capacity to increase revenue through our E&P business activities as Operator.”