SINGAPORE: Malaysia's Petronas will offer next month its first cargo of Sepat sweet crude to load in May as it starts production from marginal oilfields to reverse declining output, industry sources said on Monday.

The producer plans to offer 250,000 barrels of the crude every month, they said.

The Sepat field, offshore East Malaysia, came on stream late last year and production has peaked at 8,800 barrels per day, a source said.

Sepat is a medium, waxy sweet crude with an API gravity of 35.34 degrees and contains 0.065 percent sulphur, a preliminary assay showed. It has a high pour point of 39 degrees celsius and is comparable to neighbouring Dulang crude. Its API is also close to that of another Malaysian grade Kikeh.

Sepat is one of two marginal oil fields with contracts awarded last year.

A converted Floating Storage Offloading vessel -- FSO Sepat -- with a storage capacity of 500,000 barrels had been deployed at the field in open block PM313, about 130 kilometres from Kuala Terengganu and 80 kilometres from Dulang complex, Malaysia's oilfield services provider Bumi Armada said in a release last year.

Source : The Star Online