Malaysian national oil company Petronas has signed a contract with two firms, including one from Kuwait, to jointly develop an oilfield in waters off the coast of eastern Malaysia, local press reported Wednesday.

The production sharing contract for Block SB 312 oilfield, some 80 kilometers off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, was awarded to Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, which is a Petronas unit, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Corporation (Kufpec).

The two firms will jointly develop the oilfield estimated 2,900 square kilometers, a deal worth about 45 million U.S. dollars, Petronas said in a statement released Tuesday here.

"The minimum financial commitment for the block is 45 million U. S. dollars," the state-owned company was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Kufpec is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, whose oil and gas assets in Malaysia include two other oilfields in Sabah waters, said the report.

Source: Xinhua