Malaysia
Why Malaysia?
According to PETRONAS, over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent were discovered in 19 successful exploration wells during 2023. In recent years, the Malaysian government, with Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), has improved the investment environment and introduced specific terms for deepwater assets, late-life assets, and small fields. Malaysia is taking a balanced approach to managing the energy transition with a net zero goal set for 2050, with gas being promoted as a transition fuel to displace coal.
An active bid round process shows Malaysia is open to investment, and the upstream and CCS opportunities continue to be evaluated. The three main areas offshore Malaysia are at various stages of the lifecycle of exploration and development, but undeniably huge exploration potential remains.
Our Data Coverage
Our Data
TGS maintains an extensive and continuously expanding database covering Malaysia's diverse offshore regions, aiming to enhance exploration and development activities.
Peninsular Malaysia: TGS has a data library consisting of 40,809 square kilometers as part of a regional mega-merge project. This project delivers a seamless, contiguous volume of modern 3D processing across the Malay basin. The products include broadband pre-stack time and depth migration products, serving as an exploration framework for extending viable play fairways to surrounding areas and drilling and developing opportunities - from subtle accumulations that have been overlooked to deeper untested targets.
Sarawak: The area is covered by 21,927 square kilometers of 3D seismic formed in separate phases of processing and acquisition. A consortium of TGS, PGS, and SLB deliver this project. The Sarawak multi-client 3D seismic project is a multi-phase program promoting exploration efforts in the prolific Sarawak East Natuna Basin (Deepwater North and West Luconia Province). Work continues on this project as new phases are added and processing projects are completed and inserted into the database.
Sabah: TGS offers 5,098 kilometers of 2D seismic data and 5,927 square kilometers of 3D seismic data in the Sabah area; recent acquisition processing and reprocessing projects are also ongoing, fully supporting the 2024 license round.
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The Geology of Malaysia
Malaysia is segmented into three primary regions known as the Peninsula, Sarawak, and Sabah, each with unique geological features and exploration potential.
Peninsular Malaysia: The most prolific of these regions, a classic tertiary rift basin with hydrocarbon accumulations at numerous stratigraphic levels. It is comprised of a complex of half grabens that were filled by lacustrine shales and continental clastics. Gas mature due to greater sediment depths in the center with oil fields on the flanks is sourced from lacustrine shales and Miocene deltaic coals. It is trapped primarily in anticlines formed by the inversion of the half-grabens during the late Miocene. However, declining production in recent years near field exploration and maximizing production from the existing and undeveloped field is a key focus. The Penya basin to the south of Peninsular Malaysia is less explored and has considerable remaining potential.
Sarawak: The reservoir in the Sarawak area consists mainly of tertiary clastic and carbonate targets. Source rocks in the area are oil and gas-prone coals, with the larger discovered volumes coming from gas discoveries. Sarawak experienced a good year in 2023 with 15 discoveries in the area. Existing infrastructure could lead to swift development for some of these newly-discovered resources.
Sabah: The smallest of the regions regarding existing production, could hold the most potential; as this area is geologically complex, high-quality reprocessing and new acquisitions are crucial to unlocking the potential. Miocene carbonates and shallower clastic targets are relatively underexplored in this area. New data and ongoing license activity could be vital to unlocking the potential.
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