Total of France and Malaysian national oil company Petronas are pressing forward with separate deep-water drilling campaigns in Brunei.
The upsurge in exploration activity is leading to talk about the potential for expansion in the LNG sector.
Both operators and their respective joint venture partners have multi-well plans. Total is in charge of block CA-1 while Petronas is the operator of block CA-2.
Petronas started drilling first but its initial well found non-commercial hydrocarbons.
The Malaysian company has now moved the drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 to spud the Meranti-1 well. Meanwhile, Total is drilling its first well in CA-1. It spudded the Julong Center probe on 1 September, and total depth is expected to be reached this year with additional wells planned for 2012.
David Wood, chief executive of Murphy Oil, a partner in both blocks, said the acreage has “multiple prospects featuring very large structures”.
