POSCO International wins offshore exploration block in Malaysia

POSCO International will begin exploration off Peninsular Malaysia after winning the rights to the 4,738 km² shallow-water PM524 block, as the South Korean company seeks to expand its presence outside Myanmar in the region of Southeast Asia.

POSCO International has said it will mine the block off the east coast of Malaysia in waters 50 to 80 meters deep with an 80% stake. Petronas Carigali will own the remaining 20%.

POSCO will also obtain the rights to the Laba and Laba Barat fields, which are adjacent to block PM524.

Any future discoveries during the four-year exploration period could be related to the neighboring Tanga Barat cluster, operated by Petronas Carigali, POSCO said.

The Tangga Barat cluster consists of four dry gas fields in the Malaysian Basin, 140 kilometers off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and 180 kilometers from Kerteh. The fields were initially discovered by ExxonMobil between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, but were deemed uneconomic due to their high carbon dioxide (CO2) content. The fields were abandoned in 2001, with the return of operations to Petronas Carigali, which has since started production from the cluster.

In July, POSCO International announced an agreement with Indonesian Pertamina Hulu Energi to jointly study potential oil and gas exploration opportunities covering an area of ​​11,515 km² off the coast of Indonesia.

POSCO International’s upstream exploration and production activities are largely focused on Myanmar in the Southeast Asia region. But the company is looking to expand its presence in the natural gas sector into other strategic markets in Southeast Asia and Australia.

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