Over the next three years, more than 45 upstream projects are expected to be executed in Malaysia, four central processing platforms are forecast to be fabricated, three onshore facilities are expected to be constructed and approximately 1130 kilometres of pipelines are expected to be fabricated and installed.

Many fabrication contracts for these projects are still up for grabs with local yards expected to enjoy most of the bounty.

Petronas in its 2024-2026 outlook released this week said that next year would require the award of three heavy wellhead platforms (WHPs) topping the scales at more than 7500 tonnes, one medium WHP weighing between 1000 and 7500 tonnes, and three light WHPs of up to 1000 tonnes. Looking ahead to 2025, developments in Malaysia are expected to call for the fabrication of 10 fixed structures, of which four light WHPs have yet to be contracted.

Next year will also have a floating production, storage and offshore vessel (FPSO) or floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) plus a mobile offshore production unit to tempt contractors, while 2025’s forecast activity will see another FPSO or FSO required.

There are five offshore fabrication yards in Malaysia contracted under the Fabrication Frame Agreement (FA) with a combined annual capacity of 280,000 tonnes: Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering at Pasir Gudang, Sapura Energy in Lumut and Muhibbah Marine Engineering located in Klang – all in Peninsular Malaysia – plus Brooke Dockyard and Engineering Works and OceanMight, which both have their yards in Kuching, Sarawak.

Petronas said its future is anchored on a long-term target to sustain and grow Malaysia’s oil and gas production of 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2025 and beyond. This target will be supported by various oil and gas projects in the pipeline including Kasawari, Jerun, Rosmari-Marjoram and Lang Lebah offshore the state of Sarawak; the Gumusut-Kakap redevelopment and Belud Clusters offshore Sabah; and the Bekok Oil, Tabu and Seligi redevelopment projects offshore Peninsular Malaysia.

“The fields to be developed include marginal fields, late life assets, fields with high contaminants, high complexity reservoirs and stranded fields that offer opportunities for investors to turn the projects viable through innovative, disruptive and cost-effective solutions. This is a niche play that can create a marketspace for profitable and sustainable business,” the outlook said.

Malaysia’s production currently stands at about 500,000 barrels per day of liquids and 7 billion cubic feet per day of gas. To sustain production volumes and the operability of existing assets, an average of about 300 Facilities Improvement Plans (FIPs) have been planned to be performed annually for the next three years. These include rejuvenation projects, gas turbine and gas generator change-out activities, and other major maintenance activities, which will be carried out to eliminate bottlenecks and maximise hub capacity. FIPs also play a crucial role in curbing flaring activities at new onshore facilities, thereby contributing to decarbonisation efforts, noted Petronas.

In tandem from 2024 to 2026, decommissioning plans in the country include the plugging and abandonment of around 130 wells and the abandonment of some 50 facilities.

For the next three years, more than 25 wells are forecasted to be drilled each year with a focus on shallow-water wells in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, and deep-water wells offshore Sabah to sustain and spur exploration growth in the country. In 2024 alone, 19 exploration wells and six appraisal wells are planned to be drilled. This activity will be complemented by 74 proposed development wells, 17 workovers, and 38 plug and abandonments.

The forecast activity over the next three years is estimated to require a 28 drilling units, including semi-submersibles, jack-ups and tender assist drilling rigs – both next year and in 2025, and 26 drilling units in 2026.