Petronas is offering 13 offshore exploration blocks in its Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2021, including six discovered fields.
Petronas is offering 13 offshore exploration blocks in its Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2021, including six discovered fields. This year’s MBR offering also features of four deepwater blocks adjacent to the coast of Sarawak and Sabah in which there have been prominent exploration discoveries in recent years.
Petronas senior vice-president of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM) Mohamed Firouz Asnan said: ‘MBR 2021 will feature significant enhancements which include larger block areas coupled with flexible bidding options and low entry costs. We will also be offering new fiscal terms to be applied in the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) such as Enhanced Profitability (EPT) for the shallow water blocks, the Late Life Assets (LLA) and Small Field Assets (SFA) which are designed to match the risk and rewards of the investments with the type of assets available.
‘These terms have been formulated based on the feedback from industry players, taking into account market conditions.’
Out of the 13 blocks, three are situated in the Malay basin (PM340, PM327 and PM342), four in the Sabah basin (SB409, SB412, 2W and X) and the remaining six are located in Sarawak basin (ND3A, SK4E, SK328, SK427, SK439 and SK440). Included in blocks PM342, SK4E, SK328 and SB409 are six discovered fields as a base for investors to explore more. MBR 2021 also features the offering of four deepwater blocks (ND3A, 4E, 2W and X) off the coast of Sarawak and Sabah in which there have been significant discoveries in recent years.
At the same time, Petronas is offering three large areas for seismic study. First is the area to the south of the Malay Basin in Peninsular Malaysia with Pre-Tertiary and basement emerging plays yet to be explored. The second and third areas cover the deepwater north of Luconia that extends north easterly to Sabah which could extend proven plays.
Petronas senior vice-president of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM) Mohamed Firouz Asnan, said: ‘As an industry, we need to continue with exploration activities to seize the immense opportunities that the energy transition presents. If we don’t, we would then position ourselves out of the new energy equation.’
Petronas will host a virtual data room until 6 August 2021. The bid evaluation exercise is expected to take place between August and September 2021. PSCs will be awarded before the end of the year.
www.petronas.com/mpm/.
