At, a virtual event held on 26 February 2021, with over 250 potential and existing investors, PETRONAS successfully launched the annual Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2021, with a total of 13 offshore exploration blocks on offer.
At, a virtual event held on 26 February 2021, with over 250 potential and existing investors, PETRONAS successfully launched the annual Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2021 which is themed ‘Grow Your Energy Portfolio with Us’. A total of 13 exploration blocks are offered in offshore Malaysia.
Following the launch, PETRONAS will host a virtual data room which will be accessible until 6 August 2021, allowing data room reviews within the bid round period. Subsequently, the bid evaluation exercise should take place between August and September 2021. PETRONAS expects to award the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) to successful bidders before the end of the year.
Map showing location of offshore blocks on offer in upcoming Malaysia Bid Round. Source: PETRONAS.
Out of the 13 blocks, three are situated in the Malay basin (PM340, PM327 and PM342), four in the Sabah basin (SB409, SB412, 2W and X) and the remaining six are in the Sarawak basin (ND3A, SK4E, SK328, SK427, SK439 and SK440). Included in blocks PM342, SK4E, SK328 and SB409 are six discovered fields. MBR 2021 also features four deepwater blocks (ND3A, 4E, 2W and X) off the coast of Sarawak and Sabah which saw prominent discoveries in recent years.
Whilst the MBR 2021, focuses on exploration blocks, the opportunities around late life assets and undeveloped smaller discovered fields will be made available in the second half of this year.
As part of this year’s bid round, PETRONAS has introduced three new PSC terms. The first is the Enhanced Profitability PSC Terms (EPT) which will be applied to nine shallow water blocks, out of the 13 blocks offered. The EPT terms are formulated based on the feedback received from oil companies to provide more attractive returns under current challenging market conditions. The new Small Field Assets (SFA) and Late Life Assets (LLA) PSC Terms introduced recently were also developed to provide opportunities for companies with capability to extract greater value from discovered resources and LLAs.
PETRONAS has also incorporated several non-fiscal enhancements for the exploration blocks being offered and a phased exploration period.
At the same time, PETRONAS is offering three large areas for study arrangement. First is the area to the south of the Malay Basin in Peninsular Malaysia with emerging Pre-Tertiary and basement plays yet to be explored. The second and third areas cover the deepwater north of Luconia that extends north-easterly to Sabah and which could have extensions of proven plays. Details of MBR 2021, can be found on the PETRONAS MBR website.
