Lundin reports first oil from Bertam field in Malaysia

Swedish oil and gas company Lundin Petroleum has produced the first oil from the Bertam oil field, off the coast of Malaysia.

The company has initiated commercial production from the Bertam field using four pre-drilled development wells.

The remaining production wells will be drilled and put on stream later this year. A peak production of 15,000 barrels of oil a day is planned to be achieved at the field by the end of the year.

Lundin is the operator of Bertam, with a 75% controlling interest, while Carigali holds the remaining stake.

Located offshore the eastern side of Peninsular Malaysia, the Bertam field has been developed with a wellhead platform adjacent to a spread-moored floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, in a water depth of 75m.

Petronas approved the development plan for the Bertam field in 2013. The patners spent around $400m on the development of the project.

Lundin Petroleum president and CEO Ashley Heppenstall said: "Bertam is our first development project in Malaysia, and as such we are very pleased to have achieved first oil safely, on schedule and within budget.

"The Bertam project is an excellent example of how fast-track projects can be developed through close collaboration between ourselves, Petronas Carigali, Petronas and our contractors."

Lundin expects to achieve a production rate of around 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by the end of this year. Bertam is the third project to come into production over the last four months.

The Brynhild field offshore Norway, which commenced production in December last year, is expected to have a rate of 12,000boepd.

Production at another Norwegian field, Bøyla, began in January. It is estimated to have a peak rate of 20,000boepd.

The Edvard Grieg field in Norway is scheduled to come onstream during the fourth quarter.

Source: offshore-technology.com

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