PSC award points to potential pick up in offshore exploration
SK410B is one of the 13 blocks being featured in Petronas’s block promotion exercise in 2015. The other 12 blocks include PM320 and PM321 in Peninsular Malaysia, SK304A, SK304B, SK405A, SK405B, SK405C, SK405E, SK410A, SK333 and ND11 in Sarawak and DW 2K in Sabah.
KUCHING: The Production Sharing Contract (PSC) award of block SK-410B by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has been viewed positively as it indicates a potential pick up in offshore exploration activities, which will eventually benefit the local services players.
The research arm of Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (Kenanga Research) highlighted that the news is positive to the sector as it indicates that offshore activities, including exploration and development could pick up.
To note, Petronas had awarded the PSC to PTTEP HK Offshore Ltd (PTTEP), KUFPEC Malaysia (SK-410B) Ltd (KUFPEC) and Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (Petronas Carigali)for the exploration Block SK410B. This block is located in the shallow waters offshore Sarawak, with acreages of approximately 1,800 square kilometres.
“SK410B is one of the 13 blocks being featured in Petronas’s block promotion exercise in 2015. The
Kenanga Research
other 12 blocks include PM320 and PM321 in Peninsular Malaysia, SK304A, SK304B, SK405A, SK405B, SK405C, SK405E, SK410A, SK333 and ND11 in Sarawak and DW 2K in Sabah.
“In 2016, there are nine focus blocks consisting of both onshore and shallow water listed under the promotion exercise, with four blocks locating in Peninsular Malaysia, three from Sarawak and two from Sabah.
“We do not discount the possibility of further PSC awards since the sector has been muted for more than one and a half years. Recall that the most-recent PSC award was back in November 2014, when oil prices were on a steep decline. In November 2014, two blocks namely SB331 and SB332 in Sabah were awarded to local companies, SapuraKencana Energy Sabah Inc, M3nergy Bhd and Petronas Carigali,” the research team commented. Turn to Page B2, Col 3