Kasawari 1 was spudded in November last year and found a 1,000m high gas column in carbonate reservoirs – the longest gas column found to date in the country. At the time it considered the find promising, and after testing and preliminary assessments this has been confirmed by the announcement that the in-place reserves are considered to be in the region of 5 Tcfg, with about 3 Tcfg recoverable (2P). This makes the Kasawari field one of the largest non-associated gas fields in Malaysia. The well test conducted produced a flow of nearly 30 MMcfpd of gas.
A few months earlier Petronas had also struck lucky with NC8SW-1, 17 km south of Kasawari in the same block, which found a 440m gas column in similar carbonate reservoirs. The recoverable reserves in this field are thought to be about 450 Bcfg, and the well also uncovered a potential oil play which is under investigation to assess its commerciality. The potential of these two wells alone amounts to almost 4% of Malaysia’s current natural gas reserves of 14.8 MMboe.
These successful wells follow a string of previous discoveries off Sarawak, including NC3 and its appraisal well in the same block, which have an estimated 2.6 Tcfg of in place reserves. Sarawak is the major state gas producer and exporter for Malaysia, with the country’s only liquefied natural gas plant located in Bintulu, 150 km south-west of Miri.
Block SK316 is in the Central Luconia Province, part of the Sarawak Basin. The reservoirs are Middle to Late Miocene pinnacle reefs and are predominantly gas-bearing, sourced by terrigenous organic matter.
