The start of production represents Phase 2 and 3 of a project that began back in mid-1997.

PM-3 CAA project is the largest petroleum development to be undertaken by a Canadian company in Asia and involves the extraction of oil and gas from six different offshore fields located throughout a 1,350sqkm area.

Talisman Malaysia will operate the field, which includes the development of the West Bunga Kekwa, East Bunga Kekwa-Cai Nuoc, East Bunga Raya, West Bunga Raya, NW Bunga Raya and Bunga Seroja fields, which are located in the southeast portion of the block.

While development drilling is still ongoing, roughly 20 out of 60 wells have been drilled since October 2002, joining four new wellhead platforms, a central processing platform, a compression annex platform, a floating storage offloading vessel and an inter-field pipelines that are already in place. Expected production output is expected to be around 60,000 bbls/d of oil and 270 mmcf/d of gas.

Talisman Malaysia owns a 41.44% interest in the field. The other partners are Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd 46.06% and PetroVietnam, which holds a 12.5% stake.