By Lawrence Yong
Lundin Petroleum, a Swedish-based independent oil and gas explorer, said Tuesday it found more oil trapped in sand offshore Pahang, Malaysia after drilling in Block PM308A, as an extension to its discovery of oil sands in the same area in 2011.
The company said in a statement that oil was discovered when drilling a well (Ara-1) in 75 metres water depth to a total depth of 4,030 metres using the jackup rig named ‘West Courageous.’
“The well confirmed the extension of the new intra-rift oil play across a very large structural complex,” the company said in a press release. “Work has commenced to estimate the range of resources discovered.”
For now, the Ara-1 well has been plugged and abandoned until further evaluation. This is the final well of Lundin’s 2012 drilling campaign in the region and the West Courageous jack rig has been demobilized.
Lundin Oil had previously found oil reserves at Block PM307 at the Bertam oilfield, about 160 km offshore Pahang last year. This is north of PM308A. Announcing the discovery in October last year, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that output was expected to reach 17,500 to 20,000 barrels a day in 2014.
Najib said then that the Bertam oilfield is estimated to have oil reserves of 64 million barrels. This was the first oil discovery in Pahang. Lundin Oil has a 75 percent stake in PM307, with Petronas Carigali holding 25 percent.
Meanwhile, Lundin Oil has 35 percent stake in the PM308A production sharing contract (PSC). Its partners are Japan’s Nippon Oil with 40 percent and Petronas Carigali with 25 percent.
Besides Malaysia, Lundin also operates in France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Congo, Tunisia, Indonesia and Vietnam. According to the company’s press release, Lundin Petroleum has proven and probable reserves of 202 million barrels of oil equivalent.
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