Facilities at Kinabalu boon for Talisman Malaysia

KUCHING: Talisman Malaysia Ltd will be able to drill up to 10 new oil wells with deck space available to install additional equipment for future developments with the construction of new facilities under the Kinabalu redevelopment project.

The proposed facilities currently under detailed design comprise a 3,700-tonne wellhead riser platform and 350-tonne bridge that would link the new facilities to the existing Kinabalu platform, according to Spain-based Repsol regional executive director Asia and Russia, Ferdinando Rigardo.

Talisman is an affiliate of Repsol, an integrated oil and gas company which has activities in more than 40 countries and across the entire oil and gas value chain. Repsol had its presence in Malaysia since 2011, supplying lubricants to local manufacturing industries.

Upon acquiring Talisman Energy Incorporated in May 2015, the company had expanded its presence in the Asia-Pacific region to include the upstream exploration and production sector with operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Talisman has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract of wellhead platform for the Kinabalu redevelopment project to OceanMight Sdn Bhd, a 43%-owned associate of steel fabricator KKB Engineering Bhd.

A signing ceremony for the contract witnessed by Sarawak chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem was held here yesterday. The signatories were Repsol vice-president/country manager Malaysia Rob Mills and KKB chairman Datuk Kho Kak Beng.

Rigardo said OceanMight was expected to commence the construction of the proposed facilities in April and this would take 18 months to complete. Drilling operations is slated to begin in third-quarter 2017.

“Production start-up is planned for fourth-quarter 2017 and will add incremental production of 7,000 barrels of oil per day from the new wells that will be drilled during the 2017-2019 period.

“Over the remaining production agreement period, which ends in 2032, we anticipate to increase recoverable reserves by 15.6 million barrels,” he added at the signing ceremony.

Petronas Carigali is Talisman’s partner in the Kinabalu oil production sharing contract.

Rigardo said Repsol and Talisman saw their partnership with Malaysian contractors as part of their long-term commitment and contribution to the Malaysian economy.

“Malaysia is an important investment destination for us and we take seriously our responsibility to ensure that we run our operations safely and efficiently to provide reliable and sustainable energy suppliers for Malaysia’s power and industrial needs,” he added.

In his speech, OceanMight director Datuk Anwaruddin Osman said that despite it being a new player in the oil and gas industry, the company had been awarded three projects with a combined contract value of RM200mil in the past two years.

The first two contracts were the provision of fabrication, hook-up and commissioning services for Tanjong Baram wellhead platform and the provision of services, fabrication and new helideck assembly for Baram B Revisit 4 project. The EPC contract for Kinabalu redevelopment project was the third.