Singapore (Platts)--18Mar2011/403 am EDT/803 GMT

Thailand's state-owned upstream company PTT Exploration and Production and Norway's Statoil have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the areas of conventional and unconventional resources and LNG in a global setting, the companies announced Friday.

Last November, Statoil agreed to sell to PTTEP a 40% stake in its Kai Kos Dehseh Canadian Oil Sands asset, forming a strong partnership with PTTEP. "The MOU builds on this partnership and opens the door for further cooperation between the two companies," Statoil said. Kai Kos Dehseh is a significant oil sands deposit, covering an area of 257,200 acres and holding an estimated 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen resources.

Since January 2011, Kai Kos Dehseh has produced 10,000 b/d of crude oil from its Leismer area, as part of the first phase development, it said Friday. Oil production from Leismer is expected to ramp up to its rated capacity of 18,800 b/d within 24 months, it added. The oil is sold to refineries in the US.

PTTEP, which has stakes in 44 projects worldwide, plans to boost output to 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day by 2020 from around 270,000 boe/d currently. The company has earmarked capital expenditure of Baht 504.20 billion ($16.5 billion) over 2011-2015 to expand its oil and gas businesses.

--Mriganka Jaipuriyar, mriganka@platts.com

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