Sabah News

Esgian has published its Week 49 Rig Market Roundup highlighting new drilling activity in the North Sea and a new licensing deal in Morocco.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesSerica Energy is continuing with plans for its four-well drilling campaign in the UK North Sea, scheduled for 2024 and early 2025. The campaign will be carried out using the semisubmersible COSLInnovator. All four wells are production wells. The first well in the campaign will be a sidetrack of an existing well (B1z) on the Bittern field.

Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas has awarded two Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contracts to a JGC Corporation-Samsung Heavy Industries consortium and to Saipem as part of an international dual FEED design competition for a nearshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Sabah. The project, with a minimum capacity of 2.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) is a first of its kind in Malaysia, Petronas said.The FEED design competition is expected to take place over the course of 10 months with the Final Investment Decision (FID) planned for end of 2022.Subject to FID…

Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to express its protest against the “encroachment” into its waters by Beijing’s vessels, the foreign ministry said.The protest was over the “presence and activities” of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone off the coasts of the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.It did not say when the vessels were detected in Malaysian waters.“Malaysia’s consistent position and actions are based on international law…

More FPSO contracts were awarded in the second quarter of 2021 than during the whole of 2020, with Rystad Energy expecting FPSO awards to reach a total of 10 units in 2021. Rystad has also noted muted interest from suppliers for some recent FPSO tenders, citing a nearly full capacity with several suppliers unable to take on new projects.Further, Rystad sees another 10 FPSO orders in 2022, which will, according to the Norwegian energy intelligence group, create "a very healthy project line-up for contractors…

Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas has become the first energy company to produce LNG from two floating LNG facilities, after the LNG shipment was delivered by its floating LNG facility PFLNG DUA on Wednesday, March 24.The cargo was loaded onto the Seri Camar LNG Carrier operated by MISC Bhd for shipment to our LNG Buyer in Thailand. The PFLNG DUOA  is located at Block H Rotan gas field, around 140 kilometers offshore Sabah, Malaysia."This milestone confirms the viability…

A Bangladeshi flagged bulk carrier was approached by suspected attackers off the coast of the Philippines on Wednesday.The ReCAAP ISC said it received information from the Philippine Coast Guard about the incident involving Akij Pearl off Sibutu Island, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines.While the bulk carrier was underway, an unidentified speed boat with three perpetrators on board attempted to board the ship at about 10:45 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The master reported the incident to the Philippine Navy Littoral Monitoring Station (LMS).

Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas said Monday that its PFLNG Dua floating LNG facility has recently produced its first LNG. This is the company's second FLNG Unit, and its first deepwater FLNG facility.The PFLNG Dua is located at the Rotan gas field, 140km off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. "In collaboration with its upstream Production Sharing Contract partner, PTT Exploration and  Production, it has successfully completed the subsea commissioning phase and achieved its first has on 6 February 2021…

Norwegian seismic services provider Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) said that key areas for the 2020 Malaysia Licensing Round are covered by the PGS Sabah MC3D program.Data is available to evaluate the petroleum potential of the highly prospective offshore Sabah province, said a press note from the geophysical company.Over 47 000 sq. km high-resolution 3D data is available for Sabah, covering new opportunities near established plays in this exciting hydrocarbon province.Block SB-2T on the 2020 bid round is almost entirely covered by Sabah MC3D. SB-2T lies in the proven fold and thrust belt and is surrounded by producing oil and gas fields.

LNGSTS, a unit of Teekay Tankers, has closed the year 2019 with a record number of 112 open water liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship-to-ship (STS) cargo transfers.From November 2018, until July 2019, LNGSTS was the technical and manpower service provider for the largest ever LNG ship-to-ship project, located in Honningsvag, Norway, the company said in a press release.Under the challenging Arctic conditions, LNGSTS completed 123 STS operations from 11 different ARC7 vessels to 14 different conventional LNG carriers at 3 different anchorages simultaneously.In addition to the provision of the STS services, LNGSTS also developed the terminal…

A total of eight incidents of armed robbery were reported against ships in Asia in November 2019, according to ReCAAP ISC monthly piracy report.ReCAAP said of the eight incidents reported in November 2019, five incidents, comprising four actual incidents and one attempted incident, occurred in the Singapore Strait.The total number of incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships reported during January-November 2019 has decreased by 4%, but the number of actual incidents has increased by 3% compared to January-November 2018.The report stated that of the six actual incidents reported in November 2019, three were CAT 3 incidents and three were CAT 4 incidents.All three CAT 3 incidents occurred on board bulk carriers while underway in the Singapore Strait.

Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas named its second floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, the PFLNG Dua, in a ceremony in Geoje, South Korea.The floating LNG facility is designed to extract gas from deepwater gas reservoirs in depths up to 1,500 meters.With PFLNG Dua, the national oil and gas company of Malaysia owns and operates two floating LNG facilities, following the success of PFLNG Satu which has been in operation since 2017. This achievement demonstrates Petronas’ strong position in the LNG industry leading the way in innovative solutions to ensure a reliable and secure supply of LNG to meet the growing demand for cleaner energy.

Petronas LNG Ltd (PLL), a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas),  has completed its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo through its break bulking ship-to-ship (STS) transfer  to two buyers.The LNG break-bulking STS transfer took place in Brunei Bay, Sabah, Malaysia. It is the first for Petronas in expanding its customer base by providing solutions to two buyers, said the national oil and gas company.According to a report in Bernama, the delivering vessel, Seri Bijaksana, transferred 80,000 m3 of LNG to LNG vessel, Polar Spirit and 62,000 m3 to Lerici, which then made their separate deliveries to two separate receiving terminals in China.

Name and Type of Ship: Fishing boatDate/Time of incident: September 23, 2019 at about 1200 hrs (local time)Area Description: Off Lahad Datu, Sabah, MalaysiaCategory: Abduction of crewDescription: On Sep 23, 2019 at about 1200 hrs, seven masked-men armed with high powered firearms such as M16, RPG and pistols; believed to be members of the Kidnap for Ransom Group (KFRG) in Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) abducted three Indonesian crew from a Malaysian fishing boat. The fishing boat was in the vicinity waters of Tambisan Island…

ReCAAP ISC has issued the August 2019 Report on the situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia which notes that a total of eight incidents was reported in Asia in August and that of these eight incidents, two were piracy incidents and six were incidents of armed robbery. There wer no reports of the abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah; and there were no hijackings of ships for the theft of oil cargo but the abduction of crew for ransom in theSulu-Celebes Seas and the waters off Eastern Sabah remains a serious concern.

Dutch multinational geo-data specialist Fugro has completed the second of three Malaysian seep hunting and geochemical campaigns for Malaysian oil and gas company ‘Petronas’.According to the provider of geotechnical, survey, subsea, and geoscience services, the first campaign was conducted offshore Sabah, Malaysia, and took place between December 2018 and March 2019, using 2012 built Fugro Equator, which acquired geophysical data including multibeam echo sounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profiler (SBP) data used to interpret geologic features and optimize target selection for geochemical sampling.The second campaign was located offshore Sarawak…

The ReCAAP ISC has produced the “Guidance on Abduction of Crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and Waters off Eastern Sabah”.The guidance focuses on the incidents of abduction of crew from ships for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and in the waters off Eastern Sabah. It provides the guidance and analysis based on the information collected from past incidents in order to assist the shipping industry and ships to enhance their situation awareness and avoid such incidents.This guidance complements the general guidance contained in the “Regional Guide to Counter Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia”The Sulu-Celebes Seas region covers the tri-boundary area of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Kuwait Ports Authority manager said on Wednesday that there is coordination between Gulf and Arab countries to secure the safety of maritime traffic in Gulf waters, state news agency KUNA reported.Sheikh Yousef Abdullah al-Nasser al-Sabah also said the impact of the latest developments in the Gulf region, after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker, was "slight on Kuwaiti ports traffic". He added that there are "alternative plans for any developments in the region," KUNA quoted him as saying.Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Omar Fahmy

Malaysia’s oilfield services player Sapura Energy said it has has clinched contracts worth a total of MYR 1 billion ($242 million) for several new oil patch deals and one – the company’s first – offshore wind contract.The 10 new contracts are for its engineering and construction and drilling segments across Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, said a press release from the company.In addition, the company has been selected for a frame agreement with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) for fixed offshore structure works, the company said in a statement today.Regarding the first offshore wind farm contract, the statement said, "Sapura Offshore Sdn Bhd (Sapura Offshore) has been awarded a contract by Yunneng Wind Power Co. Ltd.

ReCAAP ISC issued its monthly piracy report, informing of seven incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia in May 2019. There was no report of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah; and no hijacking of ships for theft of oil cargo reported in May 2019. However, the abduction of crew for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah remains a serious concern.In May 2019, six actual incidents of armed robbery against ships and one attempted incident of piracy were reported. The incidents have been verified and reported to ReCAAP ISC by ReCAAP Focal Points. Refer to the Appendix on pages 15-17 for the description of the incidents.Compared to May 2018, there was a 22% decrease in the number of incidents reported in May 2019.

Appended are highlights of the piracy and sea robbery situation in Asia in April 2019.

SOFEC, a MODEC Group company, has completed the engineering, supply, and delivery of a mooring system - chains and anchors - for Petronas'  Floating LNG 1 (L) Ltd.According to a press release from MODEC, this project included the engineering, supply and delivery of the replacement mooring legs and anchors for the external turret system.The PFLNG Satu has an external turret moored system that was designed to be moored in a water depth ranging from 70 to 200 meters.In March 2019, PFLNG1 relocated its PFLNG Satu vessel to the Kebabangan cluster field, offshore Sabah in Malaysia, which is located 90 kilometers northwest of Kota Kinabalu in 120 meters water depth.

A total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships (comprising nine actual incidents and one attempted incident) were reported in Asia during January-March 2019 compared to 21 incidents (comprising 15 actual incidents and six attempted incidents) during January-March 2018.This accounts for a 52% decrease in the total number of incidents reported during January-March 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, said ReCAAP ISC's Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia for the 1st Quarter Report, from January to March 2019.The number of actual incidents has also decreased by 40% during January-March 2019 compared to January-March 2018.

Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia 1st Quarter Report January to March 2019Overall SituationA total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships (comprising nine actual incidents and one attempted incident) were reported in Asia during January-March 2019 compared to 21 incidents (comprising 15 actual incidents and six attempted incidents) during January-March 2018This accounts for a 52% decrease in the total number of incidents reported during January-March 2019 compared to the same period in 2018The number of actual incidents has also decreased by 40% during January-March 2019 c