Brunei plans to boost production of oil and gas following the discovery of 42 million barrels of oil equivalent last year. Significantly, the country is banking on new finds to reverse an expected decline in upstream output. Although it is likely he was referring to a deep-water find made by Shell in Block CA-1 with its Jagus SubThrust-1X exploration well during Q2 2021. However, the operator and its partners, which include Murphy Oil and Petronas, have not revealed any details about the discovery yet. Shell is planning to drill another exploration well in Block CA-1 following its success last year. Murphy Oil said in late January that the partners were finalizing well objective plans and evaluating prospectively ahead of final location selection.
Brunei appears to be banking on new discoveries to boost waning upstream output. However, industry analysts remain skeptical. Brunei’s crude production plunged to a record low in the third quarter of 2021 at 97,100 barrels per day. Its oil and gas sector had experienced production disruptions following hundreds of COVID-19 cases detected at Shell’s Champion 7 offshore production facility in August last year. Brunei’s natural gas production decreased to 28.5 million cubic metres a day in Q3 2021, compared to 30.7 million cubic metres a day in Q3 2020. Brunei continues to be heavily dependent on output from the Champion field – the field provides about 88% of total annual crude production – and like some of its regional peers that are dependent on output from a single giant source for hydrocarbons – such as the Philippines and Timor-Leste – they have had little success in stemming its natural decline.