Malaysian oil giant Petronas has produced first oil from the Kapal, Banang & Meranti (KBM) Cluster fields, offshore Peninsular Malaysia, which commenced on 16 December 2013.

The KBM Cluster, operated by Coastal Energy KBM Sdn Bhd, has been developed with JV partner Petra Energy under a Risk Service Contract (RSC) since June 2012. This is the third RSC that has successfully achieved oil production, after the Balai Cluster and Berantai Fields.

The KBM Cluster is an eight-year development project with Kapal being in its first development and production phase. The Kapal field facilities consist of one mobile offshore production unit (MOPU), one storage tanker with approximately 600,000 barrels capacity, one drilling rig with an attached well bay module and two flexible flow lines.

Through this mobile offshore production concept, Petronas plans to continue determining the potential production from the three KBM fields. The initial production rates from the cluster were over 10,000 barrels/day, with peak production reaching 13,000 barrels/day.

To date, Petronas has awarded 10 fields in four clusters under the RSC arrangement. Four fields have commenced production with a total of over 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.