Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, has been awarded a contract by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the development of the SEPAT offshore early production system on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The contract, which is valued at approximately US$280 million, was awarded following a competitive tender and first oil is expected before the end of 2011.

Petrofac will undertake the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) for the full scope of the early production system in a water depth of approximately 65 metres. The EPCIC will comprise of a mobile offshore production unit (MOPU), a floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility for the early production of approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day, and all interconnecting subsea pipelines. These facilities mirror those of the Cendor phase I development, which was also undertaken by Petrofac on behalf of Petronas in record time under a production sharing contract framework.

Local partners supporting Petrofac on this project are Kencana HL, which will add all the processing equipment to the MOPU, and BumiArmada which will supply and install the FSO. The Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) work for the project was carried out in Petrofac’s specialist FEED office in Woking, UK.

Maroun Semaan, group chief operating officer, Petrofac, commented: “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract by Petronas, which is our first lump-sum offshore EPCIC contract in South East Asia. The award reinforces our commitment to the region and enables the continued growth of our local delivery capability to support our ongoing relationship with Petronas and other regional partners.

“Petrofac has presented a fast track delivery model using existing vessels for the FSO and MOPU conversions and we should be ready for start-up by the end of 2011. Our ongoing partnership on the Cendor field development project in the region continues to flourish, and we look forward to delivering for Petronas on this project as well.”