KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia continues to position itself as a regional hub for oil and gas in Asia as it looks to grow production by 5% annually by 2020.

Most of the growth is expected to come from enhancing output from existing fields and from new marginal fields coming onstream, delegates at OTC Asia heard.

Deep water is also a key area of growth for the country with nearly $6 billion expected to be invested in such projects by 2020.

Shell’s Malikai tension-leg platform project (TLP) is the latest in a line of deepwater projects in Malaysia, following the Gumusut-Kakap project and Murphy’s Kikeh FPSO scheme.

Malikai is progressing well with the completed TLP having been skidded onto the White Marlin heavylift vessel this week ready for transportation to the field toward the end of April.

The field consists of two main reservoirs with peak annual production of 60,000 bbl/d. The TLP will pipe oil to the shallow-water Kebabangan platform about 30 miles away for processing.

Malaysia boasts 409 oil and gas fields and has the second largest reserves in Southeast Asia. It currently produces about 730 Mbbl/d of crude oil and 56.6 MMcm/d of natural gas, making it the world’s third largest exporter of LNG.

The country is looking to EOR techniques to increase production by as much as 50% and add about 166 Mb/d to production by 2020.

Another key to boosting output is the development of smaller fields which could help raise output by a further 55 Mbbl/d by 2020.

Petronas Vice President Dato Anuar said a good example of getting more life out of fields was the Samarang Field, which was supposed to shut down at the end of this year but has now been extended to 2025.

“We worked with one of the service companies by making an alliance with them. Two years ago they came in with an offshore [EOR] proposal but it did not work,” he said. “We went to them and said ‘e don’t have the money you will have to rework it.’

“Last year they came back in at a $55 oil environment and made it work. We started looking at the EOR project from a capex and opex stance, and we worked together,” Anuar continued. “We risk-shared between the various parties in the alliance, and we now have a field that will bring us to 2025.

“We had not drilled a different area for a long time, but this group saw a different signal and found 900 ft worth of oil in a field we have not touched since 1974,” Anuar said.

The business environment is also an advantage for Malaysia as Adif Zulkifli, senior vice president of corporate strategy for Petronas, explained.

“Malaysia has always been investor friendly with a market oriented economy and pro-business government policies,” Zulkifli said. “Petronas as the nation’s national oil company continues to commit to developing oil and gas resources and its value chain. The current environment presents opportunities for the nation’s oil and gas industry to recalibrate.

“Malaysia is well positioned to become a burgeoning hub for oil and gas in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a launching pad for market success in ASEAN and beyond,” Zulkifli said.

John Sheehan can be reached at jsheehan@hartenergy.com