BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

BRUNEI Shell Petroleum (BSP) is considering newer seismic technologies to reduce risks in oil exploration, its managing director said.

In an interview with Oxford Business Group for The Report Brunei Darussalam 2014, Ken Marnoch said BSP is facing the challenge of dealing with the maturity of its existing oil fields by finding new cost-effective ways to discover, develop and produce hydrocarbon resources over the long term.

Marnoch said they have been conducting large-scale seismic programmes and using controlled source electromagnetic surveying.

“These studies are then being utilised in the exploration wells that we have been drilling throughout 2014,” he said.

The managing director said deepwater blocks are on the radar and they are looking for the most effective and economic ways to develop them.

He said other technologies include high-pressure and high-temperature drilling, smart well technology and 3D platform scanning.

The industry, Marnoch added, is constantly looking to improve ways of developing resources safely and efficiently and generate a strong future for the sector and nation.

The average production of crude oil has declined from 135,000 barrels per day to 121,000 barrels per day earlier in July, according to statistics released by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE).

The Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office previously said decrease in oil production needed to be addressed.

“Oil and gas is the major contributor to our GDP. When we have lost production due to unscheduled deferment, it will be reflected. But although it is down to a KPI (key performance indicator) that has been agreed by the Board of Shell, from the regulatory point of view, I do not see it as a problem,” Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Mohammad Yasmin Hj Umar said.

The Brunei Times