Shell announced a deepwater natural gas discovery off Malaysia. The successful Rosmari-1 well is 135km off the coast of Sarawak, in the South China Sea (Block SK-318). It was drilled to a total depth of 2123m and encountered a gas column of more than 450m.
Shell plans further exploration, and says the discovery is a positive indicator of the gas potential in an area of strategic interest to the company.
"Rosmari-1 is a testament to our ability to successfully drill and build understanding of new geology within our existing exploration heartlands, adding value to our existing assets in Malaysia," said Andy Brown, Director Shell Upstream International. "We are expanding and rejuvenating heartlands across our exploration portfolio, including in Brunei, Australia and the Gulf of Mexico."
Shell has been spending more than US$1 billion/yr on Malaysian projects.
"This adds to Shell's sequence of recent exploration successes in Malaysia, with these discoveries expanding the company's heartlands positions," said Iain Lo, Chairman Shell Malaysia.
Block SK318 is Shell-operated with an 85% interest, with the remaining 15% held by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd.
Shell signed the exploration contracts with Petronas for Block SK318 and Block 2B in April 2012. The total area of the two blocks is about 9000sq km, and Shell committed to an agressive exploration program, including 3D seismic acquisition (using broadband 3D, advanced pre-stack depth migration-PSDM, and advanced seismic interpretation software and tools); five electromagnetic (EM) surveys; and will drill five exploration wells during the three-year exploration period. The overall contract length is 27 years.
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