PETRONAS has further enhanced and strengthened its presence in Sudan by expanding its involvement in the upstream sector, reinforcing its commitment to provide a mutually beneficial contribution to the development of Sudan’s petroleum industry.The company today was awarded Sudan’s exploration Block 15 with the signing of the Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) for the block, the first gas EPSA in Sudan. The signing ceremony, held in Khartoum in conjunction with the sixth anniversary celebrations of Sudan’s Petroleum Day, was officiated by Sudan’s Minister of Energy and Mining Dr Awad Ahmed El-Jaz. Also present was PETRONAS President and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Dato Sri Mohd Hassan Marican. Officials from relevant government departments and the Malaysian Embassy, as well as PETRONAS’ business partners attended the ceremony
The EPSA marks PETRONAS’ entry into the offshore operation in the country, after being active in the onshore exploration since 1997. Block 15 covers an area of 28,655 square kilometers within the Red Sea Basin and about half of the acreage is located in deep waters between 300 to 800 meter water depths.
PETRONAS Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd has a 35 per cent interest in the block while the remaining equity is shared between China National Petroleum Corporation (35 per cent), Sudan’s national oil company SUDAPET (15 per cent), Express Petroleum of Nigeria (10 per cent) and High Tech Group (5 per cent), a Sudanese company. PETRONAS, CNPC and SUDAPET will jointly operate the block.
PETRONAS and its partners are committed to acquire a minimum of 3,500 line kilometer of 2D seismic and 500 square kilometer of 3D seismic and to drill five wildcat wells with total minimum expenditure of US$58 million in three commitment periods over 6 years.
Block 15 is known to be gas prone. With the award of the Block, Sudan will realise its first integrated gas project. Under this contract, the investors will sell the discovered gas jointly with the Government and be given the opportunity to jointly invest in the potential downstream gas, power and petrochemical projects.
The award of Block 15 is testimony to PETRONAS’ long-term commitment to the development of the petroleum industry in Sudan. PETRONAS is also active in the downstream retailing through PETRONAS Marketing Sudan Ltd and recently concluded its participation in the 100,000 barrels per day new Port Sudan Refinery Project.
Apart from Block 15, PETRONAS already has interests in onshore Blocks 1, 2 and 4; Blocks 3 and 7; Block 5A, Block 5B and Block 8.
Issued by
Media Relations Department
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