Hess and Petronas partnership boosts gas production from key offshore development

Petronas Carigali said first gas production has been achieved from the third development phase of the Hess-operated North Malay Basin (NMB) project offshore Peninsular Malaysia.

The state-owned giant said in a statement on Monday that the NMB phase three project, operated by a subsidiary of US independent Hess, had started gas production from the Bergading-B wellhead platform.

The most recent development phase of the NMB project will be adding “another 100 million cubic feet per day of gas supply from Block PM302, bringing the total production to 400 MMcfd”, noted Petronas.

The NMB phase three project was sanctioned in 2019 and is part of a multi-phase development, the Malaysian giant said.

Unlocking potential

Mohamed Firouz Asnan, senior vice president of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM) at Petronas, said that together with Hess the company has “continued to develop the NMB project to unlock the full potential of the block”.

“This is a major milestone for both partners, as the NMB phase three project is key in sustaining Peninsular Malaysia’s gas supply amid rising demand,” he noted.

Malaysia’s Sapura Energy is believed to have been involved in constructing the Bergading-B wellhead platform, and related transportation and installation work, while compatriot Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering was working on a mercury removal unit.

Early production system

Hess flowed first gas from NMB in 2013 via an early production system on the Bunga Kamelia field, which was followed four years later by phase one of the full-field development, just three years after the project was sanctioned.

That NMB development phase comprised the Bergading central processing platform (CPP), three wellhead platforms and the leased Mekar Bergading floating storage and offloading vessel.

Phase two included a conventional wellhead platform on the Zetung field, a minimal facilities wellhead platform on the Anggerik field and a 20-kilometre pipeline to the Kesumba wellhead platform.

Zetung came on stream in December 2019 and Anggerik followed suit in September 2021.

The co-mingled full well stream from these three fields is processed on the Bergading CPP to the north before the export of condensate through to the Mekar Bergading FSOand gas being piped to the onshore Terengganu Gas Terminal.

The early production facilities, full-field development and phase two development all started ahead of schedule, a Hess spokesperson previously told Upstream.

Hess operates the NMB project, located about 298 kilometres offshore, in a 50:50 joint venture with Petronas Carigali.

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