Italian oil major Eni is planning to launch its gas joint venture (JV) with Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company, Petronas, next year, reported Reuters.
The report quoted Eni group chief operating officer Guido Brusco as saying the project will produce 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), with plans to increase this to 500,000boepd.
However, the timeline remains uncertain, as Petronas indicated the completion could take one to two years pending regulatory approval.
Eni and Petronas signed a framework agreement in June this year to advance efforts to establish an upstream JV that will oversee their combined assets in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The framework agreement builds on an exclusive memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in February.
Under the terms of the framework agreement, the proposed new JV will be established and operated as a financially self-sufficient entity.
Both parties also agreed on asset-level valuations to be contributed to the new company, leading to an equal 50:50 ownership split.
The proposed JV is expected to achieve sustainable production of 500,000boepd in the medium term, focusing primarily on gas.
It will manage approximately three billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe) of reserves, with a potential exploration upside of 10bboe.
Recently, Eni finalised an agreement with Argentina’s state-owned YPF to advance a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Vaca Muerta field in Argentina.
The deal comprises a final technical project description for the LNG phase of the Argentina LNG project, which includes the development of the Vaca Muerta gas field.
Eni aims to start exporting from the Vaca Muerta project in late 2029 or early 2030.
Both the JVs, with Petronas and YPF, are part of Eni’s efforts to increase and diversify its LNG offering to reach new potential customers, reported the media outlet.
Furthermore, Eni expects gas to make up 60% of its hydrocarbon production by 2030 and 20 million tonnes per annum of contracted LNG in its portfolio by 2029–30.
