The Crest subsidiary which won the work, TL Offshore Sdn Bhd, expects the contract to run from 2004 to 2006.

In a statement EMEPMI said, “[We are] developing Guntong F and Irong Barat C based on the SFD generic design concept that has been successfully implemented in eight separate developments to date offshore Peninsular Malaysia [and] to optimise development cost, Guntong F and Irong Barat C were designed as unmanned minimum facility platforms supported by lightweight tripod jackets.”

“Each platform will have a capacity for 16 wells to be drilled from an Independent Leg Cantilever Jack-up rig [and] Guntong F is anticipated to produce 20 thousand barrels per day (kbd) of crude oil and 40 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) of gas at its peak. Irong Barat C is anticipated to peak near 20 kbd.

“Fabrication contracts worth US$13.4 million for Guntong F and Irong Barat C jackets and topsides were awarded to Sime SembCorp Engineering Sdn Bhd and Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd, respectively, in October 2003 [and] both the Guntong F and Irong Barat C platforms will be installed in the third quarter of 2004, [with] first oil production from the platforms is expected in the first quarter of 2005,” it added.

EMEPMI also revealed the Guntong E project, which is scheduled for installation in 2005 and is the first phase of the Guntong Hub development, will be able to handle 540 million cubic feet of gas and 30,000 barrels of condensate per day.

As with the Irong Barat C and Guntong F, Guntong E will be fabricated by Ramunia Fabricators and Sime SembCorp Engineering with a total cost of US$79 million.

In a statement EMEPMI Chairman Rob Fisher said, “ExxonMobil is continuing to develop the Guntong and Irong Barat fields using world class technology [and] building on the success of our Satellite Fields Development (SFD) project, we are able to incorporate advances in ExxonMobil technology and efficiencies to lower costs and exploit previously unrecoverable resources.”

“These projects demonstrate our commitment to efficiently develop Malaysia’s oil and gas resources while at the same time achieve maximum economic recovery from mature producing areas,” he added without elaborating further.

Crest, Ramunia and Sime SembCorp were not available for comment.