M3nergy to Bid for US$1b of Projects Abroad

M3nergy Bhd, which recently proposed to dispose of its shipping arm to focus on the oil and gas industry, is looking to bid for more than US$1 billion (RM3.34 billion) exploration and production (E&P) projects overseas in the next 12 months. If successful, the projects are expected to contribute at least RM5 billion in turnover to the group in three to five years.
The company aims to leverage on its experience in the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage and Offloading unit (FSO) operations to enter into joint venture tenders with other oil and gas operators.Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Shahrazi Sha'ari said the company wants to move into more upstream oil and gas production-sharing contracts particularly in India, Indonesia and Thailand as well as look for opportunities in the Middle East. M3nergy embarked on its first E&P project outside Malaysia known as Cluster 7, off the coast of Mumbai, India, in March 2006. This was followed by a contract to develop an oil and gas block in Java, Indonesia, last March. Shahrazi told Business Times he was confident of securing more upstream projects as rising oil prices are driving new exploration and field development activities globally. He said there is a significant shortage of FPSO and FSO operators in the world thus placing M3nergy at a unique advantage to secure new contracts.Shahrazi said M3nergy plans to bid for a new FPSO and FSO project overseas as well as extend its existing FPSO and FSO contracts. The demand for floating production systems such as FPSO and FSO are on the rise as exploration moved to deeper waters and more distant locations. An FPSO is a type of floating tank system designed take all of the oil or gas produced from a nearby platform, process it, and store it until the oil or gas can be offloaded onto waiting tankers, or sent through a pipeline. An FSO is similar, but without the oil or gas-processing facilities. M3nergy, formerly known as Trenergy (M) Bhd, is the owner and operator of a fully integrated FPSO vessel called Perintis. The vessel is chartered to Petronas Carigali for a period of nine years ending in 2008.The company also operates a FSO vessel, the Puteri Cakerawala, which provides storage to gas platforms located off the coast of Kelantan in the Malaysia-Thailand joint development area.