KUCHING: SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SapuraKencana), via its unit SapuraKencana Energy, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Petronas Carigali to acquire stakes in three fields in Vietnam.
According to a report by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd’s research arm (MIDF Research), the total consideration is US$400 million which will be funded via borrowings and internally generated funds. The three fields are Block 01/97 & 02/97, Blocks 10 & 11 and Block 46-Cai Nuoc.
In addition to the Vietnamese acquisition, Petronas has announced that it has awarded two PSCs for Blocks SB331 and SB332 onshore Sabah to SapuraKencana, M3nergy Bhd and Petronas Carigali.
The award was via a competitive bid. SapuraKencana will have a 70 per cent-interest in the two blocks. The award requires the partners to drill two wildcat wells and acquire 500 line km of new 2D seismic data in Block SB331 as well as to drill one wildcat well and acquire 100 line km of new 2D seismic data in Block SB332.
They are also required to carry out other integrated studies based on existing data for the two blocks.
“We are positive on this news as it displays SapuraKencana’s rising stature as an upstream O&G asset owner/operator. The company noted that the main reason for the acquisition was to rebalance their upstream portfolio.
“In the beginning of its financial year, the company’s upstream assets were made up of 21 per cent oil and 79 per cent gas. However, after the five new gas discoveries in SK408, the proportion of oil to gas fell to 11 per cent. With the inclusion of the new Vietnamese assets, the proportion of oil to gas will rise again to 18 per cent,” said the research house.