Newfield awards in Malaysia
Upstream
6 October 2006

MALAYSIAN offshore builders Ramunia Fabricators and Oilfab will build the platforms for Newfield Exploration’s East Belumut and Chermingat oilfields project off Terengganu, Malaysia, writes Russell Searancke.

Ramunia has won a 200 million ringgit ($55 million) contract for the 20-slot East Belumut A platform with full processing, while Oilfab will fabricate a six-slot platform for the Chermingat field.

Oil from Chermingat will flow to the East Belumut platform, and Newfields hopes to export the output via a tie-in to the existing Tapis pipeline system, said sources.

East Belumut and Chermingat are in Block PM323, and are due on stream in January or February 2008 at a rate of about 15,000 barrels of oil per day.

Tioman Drilling, a joint venture between SapuraCrest Petroleum and Seadrill, recently won a two-year $87 million contract with Newfield for development drilling in Block PM323. However Newfield needs a jack-up for further exploration and production drilling.

The average water depth in PM323 is about 200 feet.