KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -- Malaysian state oil and gas firm Petronas said on Monday it awarded a production sharing contract to Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips to explore natural gas in eastern Malaysia.

Under the deal, Petronas's exploration arm, Petronas Carigali, will take a 40 percent stake in the contract to explore and produce natural gas from a cluster of offshore fields in Sabah state.
Shell Energy Asia Ltd. and ConocoPhillips will each have a 30 percent stake in the cluster of four fields, called the Kebabangan Cluster and located about 130km (81 miles) off Sabah.
Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company Sdn Bhd will operate the fields on behalf of the consortium, Petronas said in a statement.
Petronas said gas from the fields would be piped to the Sabah oil and gas terminal now under construction. It did not give the fields' potential gas reserves.