Over the past decade, the Asian upstream oil and gas sector has been growing at an astonishing rate. New exploration in the region has found several new oil discoveries that have attracted some of the largest energy companies in the world. SK Earthon, a South Korean energy company that has been on an E&P drive, has secured a participating interest in Indonesia’s North Ketapang exploration block. This deal comes as the company has been developing its Asian energy footprint through several large acquisitions and new projects.
SK Earthon has been extremely busy acquiring new projects in Southeast Asia
The Asian energy market has been growing at an incredible pace over the past decade or so, with several nations in the region increasing spending on new upstream oil and gas developments, shifting focus to the new possibilities in the region. SK Earthon has been diligently building up its energy portfolio through several large acquisitions and new exploration discoveries in the region.
The South Korean energy firm has purchased a stake in a promising new exploration block in Indonesia, called the North Ketapang block, located offshore northeast of Java Island. The move comes as the company has been slowly building up its footprint in the region. In fact, it is the third upstream project that SK Earthon has developed in Indonesia in recent years.
SK Earthon purchases a 34% stake in the North Ketapang block
The company confirmed it has acquired a 34% interest in the North Ketapang block from Malaysian state-owned Petronas’ subsidiary Petronas North Ketapang, and that it expects to begin drilling in North Ketapang within the year. The acquisition is the third for the South Korean firm after it secured similar interests in the Serpang and Binaiya blocks earlier this year.
The Indonesian project forms part of a broader initiative for SK Earthon
The company has been boosting its Asian energy portfolio over the past few years and now has operations across several of the region’s largest oil and gas-producing nations. The South Korean energy giant now holds stakes in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, three of the region’s largest oil-rich countries, and has plans to purchase more deals in the near future.
In Malaysia, SK Earthon secured the rights to operate the SK427 block offshore Sarawak, and since then, has expanded its operations in the country by taking over operatorship of the Ketapu block last year, setting the stage for a continued expansion of its Asian energy portfolio. SK Earthon holds an 85% interest in the Ketapu Cluster in Malaysia, while state-run Petroleum Sarawak Exploration and Production holds the remaining 15%.
“Securing a stake in the North Ketapang block is part of our clustering strategy for resource development in Southeast Asia, Alongside our active projects in Vietnam, China and Malaysia, we aim to develop Indonesia into a key global hub for resource development.” – SK Earthon spokesperson
Indonesia’s vast oil and gas riches have led many energy companies to enter the Asian market through several upstream acquisitions and developments. Such as Conrad Asia Energy’s ambitions for the Mako gas development.
The energy market in Southeast Asia is booming at the moment
Putting the new development revealed by SK Earthon to the side, other significantly large energy projects are underway in the region, such as Petronas kicking off a procurement drive for several new offshore developments in Malaysia. Amid the calls by several nations to diversify energy portfolios to include new integrated renewable energy production, Asia’s upstream oil and gas sector is growing at an impressive rate, underscoring the importance that the upstream market has and will continue to play in the international energy market.
