IRVING, Texas, March 12 (UPI) -- Development of the offshore Telok natural gas field will help address Malaysia's energy needs, an Exxon Mobil executive said.
Exxon announced it started production at the Telok natural gas field in Malaysian waters of the South China Sea. The company said it plans to employ 14 development wells at two natural gas platforms for the field.
"The Telok development will help meet increasing demand for natural gas in Peninsular Malaysia," Neil Duffin, president of Exxon Mobil Development Co., said in a statement.
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said natural gas consumption in Malaysia as of 2010 reached 1.1 trillion cubic feet per year, about 42 percent of what it produces. Similar trends are seen for the country's oil reserves.
Exxon didn't provide a reserve estimate for Telok. Malaysia as a whole has around 83 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, the EIA reports.
Malaysia is No. 3 in the world in terms of exports of liquefied natural gas, behind Qatar and Indonesia.
