Malaysia to open ultra-deep waters to exploration

Malaysia plans to open ultra-deepwater offshore areas for exploration to international oil companies, especially along the gas-rich eastern seaboard off Sabah, the head of state-run Petronas said on Monday.
"We will look at new blocks that are ultra deep in the future to be explored by multi-national companies," Hassan Marican, Petronas chief executive, told a media briefing on the sidelines of the Asia Oil & Gas Conference.
"The deepwater blocks (in Malaysia) have all been taken up, now we are looking at ultra deep, especially on the eastern side of Sabah," Marican said.
Ultra-deep areas refer to water depths beyond 1,000 metres, while deepwater describes depths between 200 and 1,000 metres.