Bruneian authorities and the Malaysia Petroleum Management Organization (MPM) have announced the first oil delivery from the Gumusut-Kakap/Geronggong-Jagus East (GKGJE) Phase 4 project. The joint development zone comprises a grouping of four active petroleum wells which straddle the maritime border of Brunei and the East Malaysian State of Sabah. It is operated under contract of multiple multinational oil & gas corporations.
U.S. corporate partners involved with the GKGJE have been successfully extracting oil from the deepwater project since early February. As such, the review and recent announcement indicates a positive direction for the cross-border joint venture which has been in the works for around a decade. In fact, the GKGJE can serve as a model for how foreign corporations in partnership with local state-owned enterprises can be partners in solutions for energy resource jurisdiction and allocation. Developers may use these best practices for similar cases across ASEAN to include the overlapping claims area (OCA) in the Gulf of Thailand.
