Seismic advances help to unlock Malaysian giant

摘要

ADVANCES in seismic technology have helped Thailand's national upstream company PTTEP to unlock multi-trillion cubic feet of gas resources at the Lang Lebah field off Malaysia, which became one of the largest global discoveries of 2019 and is the operator's biggest ever find. The Miocene structure was first identified by vintage 2D seismic acquired in the mid-1970s. Two exploration wells were drilled back-to-back in 1994 targeting the expected gas accumulation in the Central Luconia basin off Sarawak, East Malaysia but high overpressure and operational issues meant that neither was successful, with both failing to reach total depth. It was subsequently determined that Lang Lebah had limited potential because of poor reservoir quality and a small gas column.