JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp said on Monday it had decided to develop Layang gas field off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island for an undisclosed sum, aiming to start production in April-June 2016.

Layang field, which is located about 8 km (5 miles) east of Helan gas field, now under production, in the same SK10 block, will have a floating production, storage andoffloading system (FPSO) installed, the company, a wholly-owned unit of JX Holdings, said in a statement.

Production is set to start initially at 100 million cubic feet per day of gas (17,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil equivalent) and about 7,000 bpd of condensate and crude.

Natural gas will be sold as liquefied natural gas (LNG) after being fed to the operating liquefaction facility in Sarawak that JX invests in via a roughly 200 km undersea pipeline.

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration holds a 78.7 percent stake in the Japanese venture that holds a 75 percent stake in SK10 block, while the remaining 25 percent is owned by Malaysia's Petronas Carigali.

Other shareholders in the Japanese venture are Inpex Corp , with a stake of 15 percent and Mitsubishi Corp , with a stake of 6.3 percent.

(By Osamu Tsukimori)