Eni and Petronas establish joint gas venture in Southeast Asia
After signing an agreement for investment in November, Eni of Italy and Petronas of Malaysia have created a joint venture that combines energy businesses throughout Indonesia and Malaysia.
This move is part Eni's "satellite strategy" to separate specific assets and develop them independently with the assistance of a partner.
In a joint announcement, the companies stated that the new company named Searah will begin with a production base of more than 300,000 barrels per day and aim to reach 500,000 boe/d within three years.
It will have a portfolio of 19 assets for?gas production and development, with 14 in Indonesia and 5 in Malaysia.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi stated that "Searah" is a powerful?new entity? in Southeast Asia. It combines our expertise with Petronas' to support the development and growth of energy resources in Indonesia, and Malaysia.
GROWTH PLANS INVOLVING $20 BILLION INVESTMENT
According to the two companies, this joint venture will create significant synergies in areas such as logistics and technology.
Searah secured a revolving credit facility of $6 billion to fund its plans for growth, which include investments expected in excess of $20 billion over five years.
They said that this will help to unlock the?exploration potential of more than 3 billion barrels equivalent oil of discovered resources and support the development of?more than 3 billion barrels? of discovered resources.
Eni announced in March that it had made final investments decisions on the Gendalo, Gandang and Geng North fields as well as the Geng North,?Gehem and Geng fields.
Eni announced the discovery of Geliga-1 in the Kutei Basin, which is estimated to have around 5 trillion cubic ft of gas in place and 300 million barrels of condensate.
Eni’s?satellite? strategy also includes the spin-off of its Norwegian business to Vaar and the creation with BP of Azule Energy in Angola.
Eni can share the investment in specific projects with its partner. (Reporting and editing by Francesca Landini; Giulia Segrit, Alvise Armllini, and Jan Harvey).
(source: Reuters)
