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Amerada Hess extended its interests in Malaysia into deepwater territory on Friday 30th June when it signed a new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with PETRONAS for Deepwater Block F off the northern coast of Sarawak.
The Block covers approximately 8,000 square kilometres and the water depth ranges from 200 metres to 1200 metres. It is largely unexplored with only limited 2D seismic data having been acquired previously in the area. Amerada Hess will hold an 85% interest in the Block and will be the operator. The remaining 15% will be held by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PSCB), a wholly owned exploration and production arm of Petronas.
Commenting at the signing ceremony Richard Mew, Vice President, Amerada Hess
International said,
"This is an exciting and significant opportunity for Amerada Hess. Whilst
the current level of knowledge about the Block is limited it does contain some
promising structures. We believe that it holds significant opportunities and
we look forward to working with PETRONAS to unlock its exploration potential.
This is an important step for Amerada Hess and builds on our existing interests
in Malaysia and the broader relationship that has developed with PETRONAS."
Amerada Hess will undertake a programme of work that will commence with the reprocessing of a 1,000 kilometres of existing 2D data. An additional 4,000 kilometres of 2D data will then be acquired during 2001 before the drilling of a subsequent exploration well.
Amerada Hess already holds interests in PSCs SK 306 and PM 304 in partnership with PETRONAS Carigali. These areas contain oil and gas discoveries with established oil reserves and exploration drilling in both blocks is planned for later this year.
For further information please contact:
Alan Dunlop, Amerada Hess, London: + 44 (0)20 7887 2255
Carl Tursi, Amerada Hess, New York: +1 212 536 8593