Malaysian operator Petronas is expected to approach the market soon seeking contractors to provide subsea facilities for development of the Kelidang Cluster in Block CA-2 off Brunei, moving a step closer to anticipated first production at the deep-water natural gas field in late 2021 or early 2022.

Industry sources with direct knowledge of the field development told Upstream that the state-owned company will award Norway's Aker Solutions a contract to start on the front-end engineering and design for the Kelidang Cluster scheme, which includes a subsea production system and subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines.

The award is expected within the next couple of weeks so that FEED work can start as soon as July and be completed by year-end, before Petronas launches the engineering, procurement and construction tender early next year.

Sources said the field development will require up to six subsea trees as part of the SPS, which will be installed in water depths of around 2000 metres and linked to a floating production unit.

The SPS and SURF tender is likely to attract interest from international contractors including UK-based TechnipFMC, Aker Solutions, Schlumberger-owned OneSubsea, Norway’s Subsea 7 and GE-controlled Baker Hughes of the US.

Sources said that Aker Solutions has lined up Italian contractor Saipem in a joint bid.

“It is an exciting project, which will definitely be of great interest to subsea players,” said one industry official.

Block CA-2 discoveries include Kelidang, Keratau, Kempas and Keratau SW, containing several trillion cubic feet of gas.

In March, Petronas flagged the Kelidang Cluster and the Shell-led Limbayong oil and gas field off Sabah, East Malaysia, as two key deep-water developments in its portfolio that it expected to advance soon.

The successful bidder for the EPC contract will need to propose solutions that match the budget requirements of Petronas, sources said.

Production rates upwards of 450 million cubic feet per day of gas have been touted for the Kelidang Cluster, with volumes being piped to the five-train Brunei liquefied natural gas plant at Lumut.

Petronas and its partners Shell, Murphy Oil and Brunei National Petroleum Company (Petroleum Brunei) are also looking to place a central processing platform in about 150 metres of water with a network of flowlines connecting it to the deep-water facilities.

Petronas is already in the market to lease a floating production unit — either a newbuild or conversion — for Kelidang.

It is understood that the company is open to various floating production concepts, although one source claimed a semi-submersible would be the likely development solution.

The FPU will be expected to handle about 470 million cubic feet per day of gas.

Petronas has already carried out the feasibility study and pre-FEED for the Kelidang Cluster development.

Updated on 21 June to reflect that ConocoPhillips no longer has a stake in Block CA-2.

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