PETROLEUM Sarawak Bhd (Petros) will award prospecting contracts for two onshore blocks – SK433 and SK334 in northern Sarawak – in March next year to the companies that have registered their bid.

The executive vice president in charge of upstream activities of the state-owned petroleum company, James Foo, told oil and gas industry executives in an industry briefing in Kuching this afternoon, that though onshore blocks might not be as prolific as offshore blocks, “there is something in there”.

The SK433 block is an extension of the prolific Baram Delta offshore block in Miri.

The Baram Delta, which was in the news a few days ago when a workboat capsized after colliding with a Petronas gas platform there, has been worked on by first Sarawak Shell Bhd, and now Petronas for three decades.

A Petros factsheet said two mining leases for marginal discoveries at two wells, Adong Kecil West and Engkabang West, will be awarded.

The leases would enable assessment of the block’s commercial viability.

A prospecting licence will also be awarded for the block for studies and “additional seismic data acquisition to delineate other prospective areas”.

The second mirroring block, SK334, is an extension of the Belait formation which the factsheet said has the potential “for good reservoir properties and trap structures”.

“Geochemistry indicates active petroleum system on trend with existing discoveries on the Brunei side,” it added.

For this SK334 block, Petros would award a combined prospecting licence and mining lease.

In 2013, Petronas announced JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (Onshore Sarawak), together with its joint venture partner Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, had discovered oil and gas at the Adong Kecil West-1 well.

The well is about 20km northeast of Miri.

Petronas said two drill-stem tests achieved flow rates of about 440 barrels of crude oil per day and 11.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

The Adong Kecil West-1 is the first onshore oil and gas discovery made in Malaysia, after a lapse of 24 years.

The last onshore discovery was Asam Paya Field in 1989, also in block SK433. – October 30, 2020.