Gas Fields Development in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper is a review of the gas fields development in Malaysia. The major subsurface engineering considerations for gas development include drive mechanism determination, well requirement, completion strategies, well deliverabilities, recovery factor and reservoir surveillance requirements. For surface engineering, the major considerations include offshore facilities function, platform configuration and sequence and process and compression requirements. The result of the review is the summary of some of the differences in gas fields development to date. Introduction The first gas field development in Malaysia started in 1982 when E-11 field, located offshore Sarawak, was developed. In the following years, four more gas fields namely Duyong, Jerneh, F-23 and F-6 were developed. The Duyong and Jerneh gas fields are located offshore Peninsular Malaysia while E-11, F-23 and F-6 fields are located offshore Sarawak (Figure 1). The fields are operated by PETRONAS Carigali Sendirian Berhad (PCSB), ESSO Production Malaysia Inc. (EPMl) and Sarawak SHELL Berhad (SSB), all are the PS Contractors to PETRONAS, the national oil company. In Peninsular Malaysia, the first development started in 1984 when Duyong field was developed by PCSB to provide the necessary offshore infrastructure for development of gas fields offshore Peninsular Malaysia. With the increasing demand for gas prompted by the onshore pipeline network installation by PETRONAS to fuel the power and industrial sector, sales from Jerneh, EPMI's first gas platform, was initiated in 1991. Gas demand is projected to continue to grow in the near future. To meet this growth, EPMI will develop another field, namely Lawit, for production in 1997. In addition, two gas reservoirs in existing producing oil fields were also developed in 1984. However, their development will not be discussed here. In Sarawak, E-11, being the closest to shore, was the first gas field developed by SSB. Delivery of gas to shore commenced in 1982. Shortly thereafter, in 1983 the second gas field F-23, came onstream. The third and the largest gas field, F-6, started production in 1987 Produced gas offshore Sarawak is delivered to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant and fertilizer plant. A small portion was used for power generation. Another LNG project is currently under construction and will commence operation in 1995. Development of gas fields dedicated for the second LNG project is currently in progress. This paper discusses the major subsurface and surface engineering considerations for gas fields development in Malaysia. It will also outline some of the differences in gas fields development to-date. GEOLOGY OF PRODUCING FIELDS In Peninsular Malaysia, hydrocarbon accumulations are found in the Upper Oligocene - Upper Miocene alluvial-coastal plain clastics. P. 549