IN BRIEF: Perth, Malay oil companies link up

PRIVATE Perth company Advanced Well Technologies Pty Ltd and listed Malaysian company Petra Energy Berhad have agreed to establish a joint venture to provide oil field development and refurbishment services. The joint venture company will combine AWT’s well construction and field refurbishment capabilities with PETRA’s maintenance, procurement, fabrication, installation and production facility commissioning capabilities. Establishment of the joint venture follows several years of collaboration between the two companies. They will seek to expand on existing contractual relationships to deliver simultaneous well and reservoir refurbishment, concurrent with facility operations, maintenance and refurbishment activities. AWT managing director Cameron Manifold said the establishment of the joint venture was a significant step forward in the Asian region. “PETRA has proven to be an excellent business partner, providing us with access to a unique fleet of state-of-the-art O&M crane barge units, related support vessels and engineering services,” he said. Petra Energy’s executive chairman, Tengku Dato’ Ibrahim Petra, said the expansion into oil well activities to include field development and refurbishment services was part of a strategic expansion into sub-surface activities.