Malaysia-Thailand joint development area

The Malaysia–Thailand Joint Development Area is a 7,250 km square area in the Gulf of Thailand which was created as an interim measure to exploit the natural resources in the seabed or continental shelf claimed by the two countries and to share the proceeds equally. The arrangement does not extinguish the legal right to claims by both countries over the area. This is one of the first applications of the joint development a memorandum of understanding on 21 February 1979 in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the establishment of the joint development area and authority to administer the area. This was followed by an agreement to constitute the joint development authority on 30 May 1990 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

As of the end of 2007, approximately 8.5 trillion standard cubic feet of gas reserves (proved and probable) from twenty two fields in the area have been discovered. Gas production from the Cakerawala gas field began on 2 January 2005.

The joint development area basically coincides with the area of overlapping claim of the continental shelf by the two countries. The western and north-eastern boundaries of the JDA is that of Malaysia's continental shelf claim as asserted in its 1979 map issued by the country's Survey and Mapping Department. The southern boundary coincides with Thailand's exclusive economic zone boundary as proclaimed in 1988.

A portion of the joint development area is also claimed by Vietnam and is known as the Tripartite Overlapping Claim Area. The three countries have agreed to utilise the joint development formula for the exploitation of resources in the area but no further developments have been reported so far.

Malaysia's continental shelf limit claim is from Point A to Point C via Point B and thence to Point G while Thailand's Exclusive Economic Zone claim limit is from Point A to Point G through Points D, E, and F. It has not delimited its continental shelf limits beyond Point G.

The joint development area was originally divided into three blocks for exploration. They are Blocks A-18 (middle portion of the JDA), B-17 (northern portion) and C-19 (southern portion). On 21 April 1994, two production sharing contracts (PSC) were awarded by the Malaysia–Thailand Joint Authority (MTJA) to two groups of contractors. Each group of contractors also formed operating companies for exploraion. They were:

PC JDA LLtd is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. while PTTEP International Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary company of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited.

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