September 1, 2023 [The Star]- Shell plc will remain active on its exploration front in Malaysia, says upstream director Zoe Yujnovic.

She said the British multinational oil and gas company has been privileged in Malaysia and this is reflected through many aspects.

“Malaysia has shown a strength in competitiveness, especially in the global integrated upstream business.

“We’ve had deepwater opportunities in Sabah, gas opportunities in Sarawak as well as a strong presence of non-operated ventures in the country, which are equally as important,” she said at a virtual briefing.

According to Yujnovich, the company will continue with further developments adjacent to its existing infrastructure.

“We are quite optimistic despite it being hard to predict exploration results. However, we do have activities coming up and plan to participate in upcoming bid rounds,” she noted.

These activities, Yujnovic added, will ensure the funnel of opportunities are continuously available in Malaysia as it remains a competitive country.

“Shell plc has invested US$13bil per annum into the integrated and upstream gas business globally.

“We hope more of that will flow towards Malaysia so that we can ensure projects are competitive.

“Our main focus is to invest capital where we can get fiscal returns and carbon competitiveness,” she noted.

The projects included the sweet gas field Timi platform in Sarawak, which announced its gas production earlier this week.

Timi is powered by a solar and wind hybrid system, which has proven to be more cost-effective as it is 60% lighter than a conventional tender-assisted drilling wellhead platform that relies on oil and gas for power.

The platform is designed to produce up to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of gas at peak production and will evacuate its gas through a new 80-km pipeline to the F23 production hub.

It will also look at supporting the future growth in the central Luconia area, off the coast of Sarawak.

Yujnovic said Timi demonstrated that the company is delivering more value with less emissions.

“Bringing the project online is also an example of our focus on performance, discipline and simplification.

“It shows our ability to innovate and deliver safe, reliable and sustainable projects that support a balanced energy transition for Malaysia,” she said.

Yujnovic said that in 2022, Shell Malaysia also invested in its latest integrated offshore and onshore project in Sarawak, the Rosmari-Marjoram gas project.

She said this project will be powered by renewable energy while its offshore platform will use power from 240 solar panels.

“The onshore plant is connected to the Sarawak grid system, which is supplied mainly by hydroelectric plants.”

Meanwhile, Yujnovich said that in the long term, the market will see growth in the liquified natural gas (LNG) sector.

She said it was important to bring more supply to the market, and Shell plc plans to do so via an equity sale-purchase.

“We expect to play a leading role in the LNG sector globally through the end of this decade,” Yujnovic said.

The company has one of the largest LNG portfolios to trade, not only by equity but by its own assets and ventures.

It also buys off the market in many respects.

“One of the advantages that we have in LNG is a globally diversified portfolio, which comes from a network of countries.

“This means confidence in us for the broader supply because we can match where the demand is and optimise our supply,” she added.

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