Resurgent Upstream Boosts Malaysia’s LNG Prospects

18 Sep 2013: Malaysia’s resurgent upstream sector has been in the spotlight ever since the quick-fire announcements from Petronas that it had formally approved the ninth train at Malaysia LNG in Sarawak and reached a final investment decision on its first floating LNG project off the Borneo island state. But the government-owned firm is not stopping at these projects, with Petronas running its ruler over additional liquefaction capacity at MLNG’s Bintulu complex and pushing to take FID on a second floater called PFLNG-2 offshore Sabah in the fourth quarter. The optimism is underlined by a recent upswing in the country’s exploration and production prospects and the imminent completion of new natural gas pipeline infrastructure in gas-rich eastern Malaysia (see LNGWM, Sep ’11). Gas reserves off Sabah, also on Borneo island, will form a key supply plank at MLNG going forward with the imminent completion of the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline in October. The 512-km line will carry 750 MMcf/d from the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal in Kimanis to the eight-train 22.7 MMt/y MLNG complex at Bintulu. Download here