The production sharing contract for Block SB 312 oilfield, some 80 kilometers off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, was awarded to Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, which is a Petronas unit, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Corporation (Kufpec).

The two firms will jointly develop the oilfield estimated 2,900 square kilometers, a deal worth about 45 million U.S. dollars, Petronas said in a statement released Tuesday here.

"The minimum financial commitment for the block is 45 million U. S. dollars," the state-owned company was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Kufpec is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, whose oil and gas assets in Malaysia include two other oilfields in Sabah waters, said the report.

PIN/Xinhua