Oil Prices Rise, Deepwater Explorers Work Harder

High world oil prices are spurring Malaysian deepwater oil explorers to increase their work significantly, according to the opinion of Schlumberger vice-president and Asian region manager Steve Kaufman.
He said the current high oil price would continue to attract investors to the region. Also, the interest to Malaysian deepwater oil exploration could be fueled because of successful exploration results of Murphy Oil Corp and Petronas Carigali in the Kikeh deepwater oil field off the west coast of Sabah; and of Shell Group in a nearby oilfield.
Kikeh is expected to start production in 2007. Malaysian oil wells are expected to reach depths of nearly 15,000 feet based on early tests.
According to Kaufman, Malaysia needs to increase its oil production to 800,000 barrels per day by 2015 to meet domestic refinery needs.