Petronas

Oil production in modern Malaysia began at the end of the 19th century. The oil field was discovered by the British company The Shell Transport and Trading Company (which became part of Royal Dutch Shell in 1907), which conducted oil exploration in the Sarawak area on the island of Borneo , which was owned by the White Raja . In 1910, the first oil well was drilled in Miri , Sarawak. It became the first oil field in Malaysia, well known as the “Great Old Lady”. In 1963, when Malaysia was formed, Royal Dutch Shell remained the only oil company in the region. The authorities of the new state continued cooperation with Royal Dutch Shell, which in 1968 began the development of the first offshore oil field in the territorial waters of Malaysia ^[2] .

At the same time, the Federal Government submitted a proposal for the development of a new field in the state of Trengganu to ESSO , Continental Oil , and Mobil, on the Malay Peninsula, the most densely populated part of the country. By 1974, only ESSO remained in the region, this year the Trenggana natural gas field was discovered, the production volume of which quickly surpassed Sarawak and Sabah. By 1974, in Malaysia, oil production was about 81 thousand barrels per day (12,900 m ³ / day) ^[2] .

Several factors in the early 1970s prompted the Malaysian government to establish a state-owned oil and gas company. These were the years in which control over oil and gas fields began to shift from Western oil companies, which once controlled more than 90% of the oil market, to member countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in particular, oil reserves were nationalized in neighboring Indonesia in 1971 year. Also at this time, a technology was developed for large-scale exploration and offshore drilling. Local geography included a combination of wide basins and sedimentary rocks with calm shallow water around the Sunda shelf. All this made gas and oil exploration easier and cheaper than in most parts of the world. Malaysian oil was mostly of high quality with low sulfur content. This was a decisive factor in the creation of PETROLAM NASIONAL BERHARD ^[2] .

PETRONAS was established in August 1974 and operates in accordance with the Law on Oil Development adopted in October 1974. Having created PETRONAS, the government had to decide on the strategy for its relations with Western oil companies. In 1976, production-sharing agreements were signed, according to which all oil and gas reserves of the country were transferred to PETRONAS, but Royal Dutch Shell in Borneo and ESSO in Trenggan and on the shelf remained the operators of the development, they received 30% of the production, the remaining 70% went to PETRONAS for home sales. In 1978, the company created Petronas Carigali, its own subsidiary for offshore oil production, and Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary for the sale of liquefied gas. Since a significant part of hydrocarbons in Malaysia is in the form of natural gas, in the late 1970s the question arose of building a plant to liquefy it. The first such plant in Sarawak began operation in 1983, it was owned 60% by PETRONAS, 5% received by local authorities, 35% were divided equally by Shell, which carried out the construction, and Mitsubishi Corporation , which financed the project; ^{On the} whole, Japan took a lively part in Malaysian gas projects, and almost all of the export of liquefied gas was (and continues to be) to Japan ^[2] .

Hydrocarbon reserves in Malaysia are relatively small, at the beginning of the 1980s they were estimated at 2.84 billion barrels, and at high rates of development (and French Elf Aquitaine was ESSO and Shell in 1982), by the end of the decade, Malaysia could again become an importer of oil . To solve the problem of depletion, the Malaysian government raised the oil export tax in 1980. However, this turned out to be ineffective, since oil and gas provided a quarter of export earnings, and when energy prices fell on world markets, these restrictions had to be relaxed. As a result of the fall in oil prices in 1986, by 1989, 22 new production-sharing contracts had been signed with 31 companies from 11 countries, with foreign partners now receiving 50% of the extracted oil and 60% of gas ^[2] .

PETRONAS began refining and selling petroleum products in 1983, when construction began on two new refineries to reduce its dependence on ESSO and Shell. A subsidiary, Petronas Dagangan, was also created, which began to form a network of gas stations; By 1990, 252 gas stations operated under the Petronas brand in the country (although only 20 belonged to the company, the rest worked as franchises). At the same time, infrastructure was developed for the extraction of natural gas, its liquefaction, transportation through gas pipelines throughout the country, as well as terminals for the export of liquefied natural gas. The least successful PETRONAS project was the purchase of Bumiputra Bank, the second largest bank in the country, but badly damaged by the bankruptcy of Hong Kong's Carrian property in 1985. For five years, PETRONAS invested 3.5 billion ringgit in it, but in the end, in 1991, was forced to sell it to another state-owned company, Minister of Finance Inc ^[2] .

By 1990, the level of oil production in Malaysia reached 650 thousand barrels per day, but despite the discovery of the large Seligi field in 1988, the problem of depletion of reserves remained relevant. For her decision, PETRONAS turned to other countries, primarily to neighbors in the Indochina peninsula, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. In 1990, a subsidiary, Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd, was established, which acquired a 15 percent stake in the development of the field in the territorial waters of Myanmar; the remaining share belonged to the development operator of the Japanese Idemitsu Oil Development Co. Ltd and Myanmar's state oil and gas company. Also in 1990, an agreement was concluded with Thailand on the joint development of deposits in the Gulf of Thailand (with the participation of the American Triton Oil ) ^[2] . In 1994, oil production began in Vietnam, in 1995 in Sudan ^[1] , and in 1996, an agreement was reached on developing offshore fields in China together with China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Chevron . In 1997, a 29.3% stake was purchased in the Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad, MISC, and the next year its own transport division was merged with it, thus reaching a 62% stake in MISC. In 1998, the South African company Engen Ltd was purchased ^[1] . At the turn of the century, the geography of oil production was significantly expanded, contracts were concluded for work in Iran, Pakistan, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Niger, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In 2001, a petrochemical complex was opened in the Pahang Sultanate, which includes 12 plants on 150 hectares. In 2003, the largest gas liquefaction complex was opened in Bintulu (Sarawak) ^[1] .

In 2007, assets of Woodside Energy Ltd in Mauritania were purchased for $ 418 million ^[3] . In 2015, oil and gas assets in Azerbaijan were purchased from the Norwegian Statoil for $ 2.25 billion ^[4] . In mid-2017, the company abandoned the $ 36 billion project to build a liquefied natural gas plant in the Canadian province of British Columbia ^[5] .

Since 2009, Petronas has been a sponsor of the Formula 1 Mercedes racing team, as well as a supplier of lubricants. In 1995, the company already sponsored the Red Bull-Sauber PETRONAS team.

In 2012, it announced the start of the construction of a new petrochemical complex (Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development, RAPID) in the Johor Sultanate, which will outperform all three existing PETRONAS complexes combined; to implement the project, on February 28, 2017, an agreement was signed with Saudi Aramco under which the Arabian company for $ 7 billion acquired a 50 percent stake in the project, and will also supply up to 70% of crude oil ^[1] .

PETRONAS is wholly owned by the Malaysian government, in 2017 the state was paid 16 billion ringgit of dividends ($ 3.9 billion) ^[1] .

Since 2012, the Chairman of the Board of Directors has been Tan Sri Sidek, before that, his 38-year career was held in the civil service, in particular in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry (he was the representative of Malaysia in Japan, Australia and the USA) ^[1] .

Since 2015, the position of President and Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) has been held by Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin , in the company since 1983 ^[1] .

PETRONAS legally owns all of Malaysia's oil and gas reserves. At the beginning of 2018, proved oil reserves were estimated at 3.6 billion barrels (27th place in the world), natural gas - 1.183 trillion m³ (23rd place in the world), in the amount of 10.6 billion barrels in oil equivalent . Of the extracted oil and gas (650 thousand barrels and 70 billion m³ per day), about half are exported, which provides 22% of Malaysian export earnings. Own refining capacities provide three quarters of consumption ^[6] .

In 2017, the company employed 49.9 thousand people, of which 82% in Malaysia, 3.1% in other Asian countries, 8.2% in Africa, 2.3% in Europe, 1.8% in the Middle East, 1.3% in the CIS and 1.2% in America ^[1] .

The company has participation in 216 fields in 22 countries, it owns 383 oil production platforms and 25 floating plants. Extraction is carried out in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam), Africa (Algeria, Angola, Chad, Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan), America (Canada, Argentina and Mexico), Europe (Ireland) , in the Middle East (Iraq), in Central Asia (Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan). In 2017, the average level of oil and gas production was 2.32 million barrels per day ^[1] .

The capacity of oil refining capacities is 546 thousand barrels per day, of which 446 thousand barrels are in Malaysia, the rest comes from refineries in Durban (South Africa). The production of petrochemical products is 12.7 million tons per year, the company owns two integrated petrochemical complexes in Malaysia, as well as 17 plants, 6 of which produce fertilizers and methanol, the remaining olefins and other compounds. Lubricants are sold in 90 countries through a subsidiary of PETRONAS Lubricants International Sdn Bhd ^[1] .

Of the 223.6 billion ringgit revenues in 2017, 36% accounted for petroleum products, 22% for liquefied natural gas, 15% for crude oil and gas condensate, 11% for the sale of natural gas, 8% for petrochemical products, 8% for real estate and logistics. Foreign operations account for a third of revenue, 39% for exports and 29% for sales in Malaysia. Of foreign countries, Japan (12% of sales), China (6%), Singapore (5%), Thailand (4%), Korea and India (3% each), and African countries (16%) are of greatest importance ^[1] .

• Company official website
• PETRONAS MITCO Group of Companies
• Official Online Media for PETRONAS
• Selenia