Petronas unit discovers oil and gas in Gabon
KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) subsidiary, PC Gabon Upstream SA, has discovered oil and gas from its Boudji-1 exploration well in South Gabon, West Africa.
This marked a significant milestone for Petronas as it expanded upstream in exploration and deepwater operation in West Africa, it said.
Petronas said the ultra-deepwater exploration well, drilled at the depth of 2,800m, encountered 90m of gross high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing pre-salt sands.
“The discovery in Gabon is encouraging for Petronas as we continue to pursue growth activities beyond Malaysia, in line with the strategy to expand our core oil and gas business by growing our resource base,” said Petronas executive vice-president and upstream chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib.
“Aside from boosting Gabon’s oil and gas industry, this discovery will also spur growth activities in the region and complement our achievements in building a significant deepwater portfolio globally,” he added.
Petronas, together with the Petroleum and Hydrocarbons Ministry in Gabon, will conduct an assessment to further determine the commerciality of the resource volume.
PC Gabon Upstream is the operator for Block F14 (Likuale), with Australia’s Woodside holding a 30 per cent participating interest.
To further strengthen the company’s presence in West Africa, Petronas recently signed a farm-out agreement with Australia’s FAR Ltd for a 40 per cent stake in the offshore petroleum licences for Blocks A2 and A5, located offshore Gambia.
To date, Petronas’ deepwater portfolio includes partnerships in the Gumusut-Kakap, Malikai and Kikeh deepwater fields located off Sabah.
Additionally, there are two new upcoming deepwater development projects in the portfolio — the Limbayong field in Sabah and the Kelidang Cluster in Brunei.
Petronas’ global upstream reach continues to expand to Mexico with the winning of six deepwater blocks in bidding round 2.4, positioning Petronas as the second-largest gross acreage holder in offshore Mexico with a total of nine blocks.