KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Genting Berhad has signed a $962.8 million deal for a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility from China's Wison New Energies, the Malaysian company said on Thursday.

The facility, to be used in Indonesia's West Papua region, will have a capacity of 1.2 million metric tons per annum with first drop scheduled for the third quarter of 2026, Genting said in a statement. Wison will construct the facility at its shipyards in Nantong and Zhoushan, China.

Feedgas for the floating facility will be supplied from the Asap, Merah and Kido structures within the Kasuri gas block concession area, Genting said in the statement.

Genting President and Chief Operating Officer Tan Kong Han said at a press conference that the company had "very significant success" and encountered hydrocarbons from exploratory drilling in its West Papua gas block.

"We have had a lot of very significant success on this block. We drilled ten wells, all ten wells have encountered hydrocarbons," he said.

Genting Oil Kasuri Pte Ltd, a Genting subsidiary, had signed a production sharing contract for the Kasuri block and first discovered gas there in 2011.

Of the gas in the Kasuri block, 101 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) will be supplied to an ammonia and urea plant to be built in West Papua for 17 years, while 230 mmscfd of gas will go to the floating LNG facility for 18 years, the statement said.

While Genting did not specify clients for the gas offtake from the floating LNG facility, Tan said the company was "engaged in discussions" with buyers like Shell and BP.

(Reporting by Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)