M3nergy set for O and G role
Published on: Wednesday, October 22, 2014
SINGAPORE: The Sabah State Government marked its venture into full scale oil and gas exploration and production with the naming of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by its wholly-owned company, M3nergy Berhad at Keppel Shipyard in Benoi, here, Tuesday.The newly-converted vessel estimated to cost around USD290 million (RM870m) was named Ratu Nusantara in a ceremony by Datin Seri Faridah Tussin, wife of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman who was also on hand to witness the auspicious occasion.Present were M3nergy Chairman-cum-State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman and Malaysia Federal Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as well as Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin, Minister of Special Tasks, Datuk Teo Chee Kang as well as state assemblymen.
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The vessel will head to the Bukit Tua oil and gas field in Indonesia operated by Petronas through a Profit Sharing Contract (PSC) with Indonesia's oil regulator, SKK Migas and PC Ketapang II Ltd at Madura, about 110km North East of Java.The transformation of Ratu Nusantara to a FSPO was done in 16 months allowing it to have a processing capacity of 25,000 barrels per day, 77mmscfd of gas, 20,000 bpd of water and a storage capacity of 630,000 barrels of processed oil.After touring the vessel, Musa commented that the accomplishment has been catalytic in further promoting the oil and gas sector in the region, which has been and is a major contributor to the social and economic development of Sabah."Sabah welcomes further opportunities to continue working with Petronas in the future to expand and establish industrial activities in Sabah alongside our own local investments," he said.
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With the latest development, Musa who is also State Finance Minister expressed confidence that the future is bright, especially with the expertise of M3nergy Berhad for Sabah in the oil and gas industry.Musa said he was pleased that M3nergy was collaborating with established stakeholders such as SKK Migas and PCK2L.
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"The expertise and experience derived through this collaboration will be mutually beneficial and will provide a wide array of solutions for the production of oil and gas.Sukarti, said the completion of this facility marked yet another important milestone in the company's three-decade journey. "M3nergy's participation in the development of oil fields in Bukit Tua is a strategy to strengthen our footing in Indonesia," he said. According to Sukarti earlier, the success of the new project was a reflection of our competitive edge and focused commitment resulting in progress and sustainable growth of the company.M3nergy Group Managing Director cum Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Shahrazi Sha'ari told the press that drilling would start soon and despite unable to disclose the estimated oil and gas reserves in Bukit Tua said "it is quite substantial and it is definitely not a marginal field." He also disclosed that M3nergy had been invited to bid for several other projects in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia next year.Executive Director, Datuk Kevin K. How said an important thing to note was that the Sabah Government now has the platform to participate in a full scale development of the upper stream of the oil and gas industry."With the backing of Sabah Development Bank we are confident that M3energy will be able to push further in the oil and gas upper stream development," said How who is also a Director of SDB.Petronas vice president of upstream international, Sharbini Suhaili, said the company was committed to continuously study further field development opportunities at the Ketapang Block which may be tied in to the Ratu Nusantara FPSO to maximise its capacity utilisation.Also at hand was J. Widjonarko, Acting Chairman of SKK Migas, Indonesia's equivalent of Petronas.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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