Sarawak Basin seismic survey set for October

The consortium of PGS, TGS and Schlumberger’s WesternGeco has secured pre-funding for a 6,400 square kilometer multi-client 3D survey in the Sarawak Basin off the coast of Malaysia.

The survey is the first phase of a multi-year contract awarded by Petronas last year to acquire and process up to 105,000 square kilometers of multi-client 3D data over a five-year period.

This first phase will be acquired by PGS’s Ramform Sovereign using multi-sensor GeoStreamer technology.

Work will begin in October and is expected to take approximately four months.

The survey area covers acreage included in the Malaysia Bid Round 2021 and fast-track results will be delivered in time for block evaluation. Future acquisition phases are subject to securing sufficient pre-funding, PGS said.

“Through working closely with our clients and consortium partners, we were able to develop this important project which builds upon recent exploration success in the area,“ said Will Ashby, executive vice president, Eastern Hemisphere at TGS. “This project will support the upcoming bid round offshore Sarawak and will spearhead the next wave of exploration in this region.”

Petronas launched the Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2021 at the end of February with 13 new blocks on offer in the country’s prolific basins.

Six of the blocks are located in the Sarawak Basin, three are situated in the Malay Basin, and four are in the Sabah Basin.

The plan is to award the production sharing contracts (PSCs) to successful bidders before the end of the year.