Field development projects have been thin on the ground in Asia since the industry has been going through its largest recession in years. However, there are some signs of recovery—like other parts of the world—with a tender for major projects offshore India being launched and a couple of developments in the Gulf of Thailand making good progress.

In addition, a new supply base is planned to service Myanmar’s offshore sector in a move that could give real impetus to the growth of the country’s industry.

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has kicked off the tender process for the offshore facilities it needs for the Ratna and R-Series oil field development offshore Western India.

ONGC is eager to bring the project offshore Mumbai onstream in 2019. The project has a budget of more than $600 million.

Production from the fields is scheduled to start at an initial rate of 10,000 bbl/d, ONGC’s director of offshore Tapas Kumar Sengupta said.

The Ratna and R-series oil fields hold an estimated 87 MMbbl of oil and 1.2 Bcm (42.36 Bcf) of gas reserves.

In March 2016 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to return the fields to their original licensee after the contract with Essar Oil and Premier Oil was canceled.

ONGC discovered the fields and installed the Ratna R-12 platform, which is part of the Ratna and R-series area. These facilities had been used by ONGC for production since 1983 before production stopped in September 1994 when the field was put up for sale.

The platform has since deteriorated due to “plundering and looting” of its utilities and equipment. Repairs would be too costly. “We have to build the infrastructure afresh,” Sengupta said.

Gulf of Thailand FID

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia Ophir Energy has made a final investment decision (FID) for Phase 4 of the Bualuang oil field development in the Gulf of Thailand. Total investment is expected to be $145 million from now until 2020. The project will consist of a 12-slot bridge-linked wellhead structure with additional power generation. It will include the drilling of up to 14 wells and an expansion of the water disposal capacity on the Bravo platform.

“ERC Equipoise, Ophir’s reserves auditors, provided a letter of comfort to the board that forecasts that the development will convert 9.2 MMbbl of oil of contingent resources to reserves. First oil is expected in the second half of 2018,” Ophir said. “Through a combination of additional debt leverage and the Thai fiscal terms, the project is expected to start delivering cumulative positive cash flows from the start of 2019.”

Vantage Drilling’s jackup rig Topaz Driller is on location at the Bualuang Field and has started operations on the 2017 infill drilling program. This program consists of two development wells and one well targeting untested prospective resources in a near-field step-out location.

“Abandoned well stock is to be recycled to target the three new locations with the goal of the development wells growing production by around 1,400 bbl/d of oil,” Ophir added. “The cost of these development wells will be around $12 million. Production year to date from the field is averaging 8,100 bbl/d.”

The Bualuang Field has been onstream since 2008 and is operated by Ophir with a 100% stake.

Hilong Block B-17-01 Contract

Hilong Marine Engineering has won a subcontract from CUEL Ltd. for the transportation and installation services for three wellhead platforms, subsea pipelines and host tie-ins in the Gulf of Thailand.

The contract is for the Phase 4 development project in Block B-17-01, which is located in the Malay Basin. The area is covered by the Thailand-Malaysia joint development area.

The maritime construction period of the contract will be from mid-December 2017 to March 2018.

“The total value of the contract is no less than US $25 million,” Hilong said.

CUEL acts as the main contractor for Carigali-PTTEPI Operating Co. (CPOC), which is a 50:50 joint venture between Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas Carigali and Thailand’s state player PTTEP. CPOC is the operator of blocks B-17 and C-19.

“The board believes that the contract marks a significant breakthrough of Hilong’s offshore installation, transportation and subsea pipeline laying contracting business in Southeast Asia,” Hilong said. “The board considers that such an arrangement has laid the foundation for the group to further expand into international markets.”

Myint’s Myanmar Supply Base

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Myint & Associates has been given the green light by the Myanmar Investment Commission to build an offshore supply base for the country’s oil and gas industry.

Myint plans to build and operate its offshore supply base in the Nga Yoke Kaung Bay area in the Ayeyarwady region.

In 2014 the Ministry of Electricity and Energy awarded 20 international consortia rights to explore and produce from offshore blocks via production-sharing contracts (PSCs). The terms of the PSCs require exploration activity, including drilling a number of wells over a period of up to seven years.

“Myint believes that an offshore supply base located within Myanmar will be a critical requirement to support this activity. The company aims to capture this growing market as well as provide services to the already discovered offshore fields,” Myint said.

The company has been working on its offshore supply base project for the past two years. Following the approval by the Myanmar Investment Commission, Myint plans to fast track the project and aims to have the base operational by year-end 2019.

—Steve Hamlen