Malaysia has been the site of two discoveries for Shell recently, with both finds being made offshore Borneo, while on the country’s field development front, a new project has been sanctioned and a first was achieved for pipeline installation.

Shell struck a gas discovery with the Rosmari-1 well in Block SK318 offshore Sarawak, East Malaysia. The well was drilled to a total depth of 2,123 m (6,966 ft) and encountered more than 450 m (1,476 ft) of gas column.

With further exploration planned, the discovery is a positive indicator of the gas potential in an area of strategic interest for Shell, the Anglo Dutch major said.

“Rosmari-1 is a testament to our ability to successfully drill and build understanding of new geology within our existing exploration heartlands, adding value to our existing assets in Malaysia,” said Andy Brown, director of Shell Upstream International.

Block SK318 is operated by Shell with an 85% stake, while state-owned Petronas Carigali holds the remaining 15%.

Shell also enjoyed success with an oil discovery offshore Sabah, also in Borneo, East Malaysia. The discovery was made in the Limbayong-2 well during the appraisal of the Limbayong gas field by Shell.

The appraisal well encountered 136 m (446ft) of oil-bearing sands, and there are plans to conduct more appraisal work on the discovery to determine recoverable reserves. Limbayong-2 was drilled by partners Shell (35%), ConocoPhillips (35%) and Petronas Carigali (30%).

Balai cluster gets FDP nod

Roc Oil has received approval of its field development plan (FDP) from Petronas for the initial phase in the development of the Bentara oil field in the Balai Cluster Risk Service Contract (RSC) offshore East Malaysia.

“Approval for the initial phase of the Bentara oil development is a direct outcome of the risk managed and staged pre development approach implemented by BCP [the company set up to operate the project] to appraise and accelerate oil production from the Balai Cluster,” Roc’s CEO Alan Linn said.

“In the process, we have also identified additional potential within the cluster area and will be proposing further study and appraisal activity in support of the next stage of potential development from Bentara and associated fields.”

Phase I of the Bentara development will use the existing platform and two wells, producing from both Bentara-2 and Bentara-3 through the EPV Balai Mutiara vessel.

Production startup is planned to start during second-quarter 2014. The field is expected to produce at an average rate of between 2,000 bbl/d and 3,000 bbl/d of oil gross during the period.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s SapuraKencana Petroleum is preparing to invest $1.5 billion over the next three years to develop oil and gas assets it acquired from U.S. player Newfield Exploration.

Oilfield services player SapuraKencana will spend $500m per year to develop the assets in Malaysia it bought for $895.9m in a deal that was only completed in February.

Among the assets is Block SK 310 offshore Sarawak, where Newfield made a pinnacle reef gas discovery last year. Newfield held a 30% operated interest in the block and estimated it to contain in place reserves of between 42.49 Bcm and 84.98 Bcm (1.5 Tcf and 3.0 Tcf) of gas.

McDermott’s installation first

McDermott says it has become the first company to install rigid reel-lay pipe-in-pipe in Asia Pacific on the Siakap North-Petai (SNP) development offshore Malaysia.

At more than 1,190 m (3,900 ft), the SNP development is one of the industry’s most challenging deepwater projects, McDermott said.

“Successfully installing the rigid reeled pipe-in-pipe flowlines on the Siakap project is a significant achievement for McDermott and a first for the region,” said David Dickson, president and CEO of McDermott.

Installation of the pipe-in-pipe production flowlines and rigid water injection flowlines was undertaken by McDermott’s lay vessel North Ocean 105, while flexible risers were installed by McDermott’s North Ocean 102 vessel.

Roc seals farm-in

In the licensing arena, Roc Oil has completed the farm in to a production-sharing contract (PSC), which includes the D35, D21 and J4 fields located offshore Malaysia at water depths of around 50m (164ft).

The fields were 100% owned and operated by Petronas Carigali and Roc has farmed into a 50% stake. The partners are planning a redevelopment of the assets. Roc will pay $25 million for the equity plus a carry with a 50% stake of $80 million for the project spread over phases 1 and 2.

Petronas Carigali will continue to be the operator of the PSC and retains responsibility for operations and maintenance of the facilities. Roc will be the project development manager, responsible for subsurface management, well engineering, new facilities projects and project execution.

The fields are in production with a combined daily oil rate of around 10,000 bbl/d of oil and gas sales of 481.6 Mcm/d (17 MMcf/d) gross working interest. Roc’s economic stake (50%) of the 2P reserves from the fields is 8.7 MMboe.

“The farm in is an excellent fit for our business and in line with our Asian development strategy,” Roc’s CEO Alan Linn said. “We expect the fields to become cornerstone development assets within our growing regional portfolio.”

Lutong RSC deal

Uzma Energy Venture and EnQuest Petroleum have signed a small field risk service contract (SFRSC) with Petronas to develop and produce hydrocarbons from the Tanjong Bram Field offshore Lutong, Sarawak.

They will implement the approved field development plan (FDP), which includes drilling of wells, the installation of platforms, topsides and pipelines and the tie-in of the new facilities to existing Petronas Carigali infrastructure.

First oil from the SFRSC, which is estimated to cost $100 million to develop, is scheduled for 2015.

EnQuest will have a 70% stake in the SFRSC, which will last for nine years, while Uzma will hold the remaining 30%. EnQuest will be the operator of the Tanjong Baram project.

“This SFRSC marks a new milestone and a new beginning in the Uzma’s service offerings in the upstream segment,” Uzma said. “It furthers augments Uzma’s three core capabilities, namely geoscience [and] petroleum engineering, drilling and well services and projects oilfield and operations services.”