WoodMac: SE Asia lines up 54 developments.(Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. on oil and gas field development in Southeastern Asia)

Southeast Asian countries have a total of 30 oil and gas fields under development, and another 24 are expected to be developed, according to Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh.

The analyst said the 54 fields will cost more than $25.5 billion to develop, with this outlay expected during the next 7-8 years. Combined reserves for the fields are estimated at 2.9 billion bbl of oil and 66 tcf of gas.

"Indonesia predominates," said WoodMac, "with a total of 17 projects. Malaysia is second with 11 projects, and offshore China is third with eight.

"The most common development concept continues to be the fixed platform, featured in 63% of projects in this year's survey. Significantly, 14% of developments feature an FPSO, a year-on-year increase from 7% in 1996."

The balance of new developments is said to show clearly an increasing emphasis on gas utilization across Southeast …