Company DigestCompaniesLast updated: 23 January 2024

Petronas Awards Seven New PSCs Under Malaysia Bid Round 2023 and Launches the 2024 Round

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has awarded seven new production-sharing contracts (PSCs) under its Malaysia Bid Round 2023, covering exploration blocks offshore Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak as well as a discovery resource opportunities (DRO) cluster offshore Sabah, and has launched the 2024 iteration of the bid round. The seven contracts are expected to garner more than RM1.3 billion in exploration and production investments in Malaysia. Malaysia Bid Round 2024, themed "Transforming Your Future with Advantaged Energy", offers five exploration blocks and five DRO clusters, with a virtual data room open until the bid deadline of Aug 1, 2024.

Offshore exploration platform in tropical waters

Seven new PSCs under Malaysia Bid Round 2023

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23, 2024 — Petronas has awarded seven new production-sharing contracts under Malaysia Bid Round 2023 (MBR 2023) for exploration blocks offshore Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, together with one discovery resource opportunities (DRO) cluster offshore Sabah. The awards were announced in the company's corporate communications published at https://www.petronas.com/.

The contracts were signed with consortia that combine the national company's exploration arm with international and regional partners:

Block PM342 — Petronas Carigali and E&P Malaysia Venture;
Block PM428 — Jadestone Energy (PM) and Petronas Carigali;
Block SK330 — Petronas Carigali, E&P Malaysia Venture and Petroleum Sarawak Exploration & Production;
Block SK510 — Petronas Carigali, INPEX Malaysia E&P, PT Pertamina Malaysia Eksplorasi Produksi and Petroleum Sarawak Exploration & Production;
Block 5E — Sarawak Shell, Petronas Carigali and Petroleum Sarawak Exploration & Production;
Block SB403 — Petronas Carigali, E&P Malaysia Venture and SMJ Energy;
Bambazon Cluster (DRO) — E&P O&M Services.

According to the company, the seven PSCs are expected to garner more than RM1.3 billion in exploration and production investments in Malaysia. For a bid round, the investment commitment is the measure that connects a signed contract to activity in the field: seismic work, drilling and the engineering studies that follow an award are funded from exactly this category of spending.

Management comments on basin coverage

Datuk Bacho Pilong, senior vice president of Malaysia Petroleum Management, said that with the MBR 2023 awards all exploration blocks in the Sarawak Basin and the Northwest Sabah Basin have been fully licensed. He also pointed to growing demand in the proven basins of Peninsular Malaysia, where established infrastructure is already in place.

The two observations describe different halves of the same picture. Full licensing of the Sarawak Basin and the Northwest Sabah Basin means that the acreage offered in previous rounds in those provinces has been taken up, and that future exploration there will proceed under the contracts now in force rather than through new offers. The reference to Peninsular Malaysia's proven basins, in turn, explains where unsatisfied bidder appetite is concentrating: mature provinces with pipelines, processing facilities and export routes already built reduce the distance between a discovery and first production.

Malaysia Bid Round 2024 launched

Alongside the awards, Petronas launched Malaysia Bid Round 2024 (MBR 2024) under the theme "Transforming Your Future with Advantaged Energy". The new offer combines frontier exploration acreage with opportunities tied to known accumulations:

five exploration blocks located in the Langkasuka Basin in the Straits of Melaka and in the Semporna and Sandakan Basins offshore eastern Sabah;
five DRO clusters, of which three are shallow-water clusters in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, and two are deepwater clusters offshore Sabah positioned near existing facilities.

The launch was attended by more than 50 participants from oil and gas companies, government agencies, trade attaches and consultants, an audience that reflects the mix of bidders the round is addressed to: operators seeking new acreage, national and international partners, and the advisory and service community that supports bid preparation.

Data room and bid deadline

A virtual data room for MBR 2024 is open to bidders until the bid deadline of Aug 1, 2024. The data room is the working core of the round: it holds the subsurface and commercial information on the offered blocks and clusters, and the length of the access window sets the time available for technical evaluation, consortium building and bid formulation before submissions close on Aug 1, 2024.

What the back-to-back rounds signal

Placing the MBR 2023 awards and the MBR 2024 launch in a single announcement underlines the continuity of the licensing programme. One round closes with seven signed contracts and an investment expectation of more than RM1.3 billion; the next opens immediately with five exploration blocks and five DRO clusters. The composition of the new offer also follows the logic described by Malaysia Petroleum Management: with the Sarawak Basin and the Northwest Sabah Basin fully licensed, the 2024 blocks reach into the Langkasuka Basin in the Straits of Melaka and into the Semporna and Sandakan Basins offshore eastern Sabah, while the DRO clusters, particularly the two deepwater Sabah clusters near existing facilities, target resources that can in principle be developed against infrastructure already in place.

For bidders, the practical calendar is now set: data room access runs until the bid deadline of Aug 1, 2024, after which the evaluation of the 2024 offer begins and the next cycle of awards will follow the same path just completed by the seven consortia of MBR 2023.