Malaysian state energy firm Petronas announced on Monday that it had made two gas discoveries off Borneo island as it pursues an aggressive strategy to drill locally.
The two gas discoveries are in Kasawari and NC8SW fields off the coast of Sarawak, a Malaysian state on Borneo island, Petronas said in a statement.
Petronas said initial assessments showed that gas-in-place for the Kasawari field was over five trillion standard cubic feet while NC8SW had estimated recoverable resources of more than 450-billion standard cubic feet of gas.
Borneo is a vast island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
“For 2012, Petronas and its production sharing contractors are planning to drill 30 exploration wells to further enhance the prospect of Malaysia’s basins,” it said.
Petronas had previously announced it would scale back foreign drilling and focus its development and extraction efforts closer to home.
The move came as Malaysia seeks ways to turn around an export slump. Petronas — Malaysia’s only Fortune 500 company — contributes almost half the country’s budget revenues.
Prime Minister Najib Razak is also pushing for the development of more reserves to address future energy demand. — Sapa-AFP