ExxonMobil Enters Oil Recovery Enhancement Project with Petronas Malaysia

ExxonMobil has reportedly entering a joint venture project with Petronas Malaysia for a recovery of an oil field, Tapis expected to begin in 2013.

The project which is estimated at $1 billion is considered by many timely in concordance with Petronas's recent announcement of re-shifting its focus backs towards domestic exploration and production and away from its wide-reaching international portfolio. It will look at reviving the 1980s Tapis which is regarded as one of the best API grades in the world and was used extensively in the Asia-Pacific benchmark.

Iran to Receive Gasoline from Reliance

Reliance is reportedly transporting gasoline into Iran through Petronas. This becomes a dispute as the Indian refiner has previously instructed traders not to transport its gasoline into Iran following President Barack Obama new push toward international sanctions against Iran.

Reliance has been seen to be prepared not to become a prime target for US legislators which may result into potential punitive measures by the United States.

Petronas would be the second firm after Kuwait’s fuel supplier IPG making deliveries into Iran. It is possible that Petronas through its subsidiary Petronas Trading Corporation (Petco) is selling Reliance gasoline cargo through another trader which may have excluded the additional clause.

Malaysia’s Proton Lubricant Business Reaching 2 Million Litres Mark

Malaysia's PETRONAS and Proton Holdings Bhd, the national car company are in collaborations to grow its lubricant business.

It is expected that the collaboration will amount up to two million litres in the next two to three years.

The two companies under the agreement gives Petronas the exclusive rights as Proton partner for all its domestic and global original equipment manufacturered (OEM) lubricants and functional fluids. Petronas in turn will support Proton to produce lubricants that cater specifically to its specific requirements.

Sasol - Petronas Joint Feasibility Study on Uzbekistan GTL

Sasol is in the stage of doing feasibility study with Petronas for a Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) proposition in Uzbekistan. The two giants, Sasol which is the biggest producer of motor fuels from coal and Petronas, one of the seven sisters will be doing the study overseen by a joint-venture company.

The GTL plant which will be using Sasol's technology is rumoured to produce 1.3 million tonnes of fuel components including diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gass similar to Sasol's GTL plant in Qatar.

Petronas Entering Cameroon

Malaysian national oil company, Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) and Noble Energy have been granted a production sharing contract offshore Douala in Cameroon. Societe Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH), the national petroleum company of Cameroon has confirmed that the deal was to develop the Gulk of Guinea with exploration rights worth US$119 millions.

The deal is seen as an extension to Noble-Petronas current involvement in Cameroon's YoYo gas project.

The exploration right is reported to contain oil reserves of between 40 million and 70 million bbl with SNH holding 25% interest in production right. Both Petronas and Noble Energy are given a 25-year exploitation license renewable for ten additional years.

BP CNPC & Exxon Petronas Bidding for Rumaila Field

Oil giants U.K BP PLC with its pair China National Petroleum Corp. and U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas are bidding for joint offers to develop Iraq's Rumaila oil field.

Despite Iraq's long black history with the western world, the country is holding Iraq's first bidding round in 30 years for Rumaila future development oil field. Rumania's current output capacity is 1 million barrels a day, in which the Iraqi government persuing to increase by up to 1.75 million barrels a day by getting foreign participation into the country.

Petronas to Produce 5 Billion cm of Gas in Turkmenistan

The Turkmenistan government had announced that Malaysian state oil firm Petronas could produce up to 5 billion cubic metres of gas annually in the Turkmen portion of the Caspian Sea with opportunity to double up the capacity in the near future.

Petronas had invested about $2 billion in the Caspian shelf project since 1996 and is likely to be the sourced for the planned Nabucco project. The Nabucco project will be responsible to ship gas volumes of Central Asian gas to Europe.

Petronas Looking for Concession Extension in Mozambique

A Malaysian state oil company, PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd or widely known as Petronas has asked for an extension to its exploration licence in the Zambezi River delta in Mozambique in a request to the National Petroleum Institute.

The claim for the extension is to allow Petronas to do further investigations after an initial study of exploration activities. It was rumoured that evidents of extraction opportunities have been found in the area.

US Marathon Oil to Sell its Irish Asset to PETRONAS

The US' Marathon Oil has agreed to sell most of its Irish assets to PETRONAS for $180 million.also include a 100% interest in the company's gas storage business with current capacity of 7 billion cubic feet.  

This acquisition includes a 86% stake in the producing Seven Heads gas fieldand a 100% operated interest in the Kinsale Head Area comprising Kinsale Head, South West Kinsale and the Ballycotton gas fields, as well as an 86% interest in the gas producing Seven Heads field which is tied back to Kinsale. All the gas fields at Kinsale area are estimated for current net production of 36 million cf/day. 

Petronas subsidiary Star Energy was appointed for Petronas behalf responsible for the acquisition. 

New Gas Fields Found in Mozambique

Two new natural gas fields were found in the southern Inhambane province of Mozambique. The gas field discovery is foreseen for domestic demand for natural gas as suggested by Mineral Resources Minister Esperanca Bias of Mozambique including for electricity generartion, fertiliser factory and fuel for vehicles.

Under Mozambican law, any consortium that has discovered gas reserves has six months to assess its findings and present a report to the government. In this case, the player will be South Africa's Sasol , Malaysia's Petronas and the Mozambican government. Sasol, the world's biggest maker of diesel from coal, owns 50 percent of the project, Petronas owns 35 percent, while the government of Mozambique holds 15 percent through national oil company Empresa Nacional De Hidrocarbonetos De Mozambique (ENH). 

World's Biggest Carrier Dropped $882 Million Deal

The world's largest ship company and carrier of liquified natural gas, MISC Bhd has reportedly dropped a $882 million dollar acquisition deal for oil service firm Ramunia Holdings Bhd due to due diligence incompleteness. MISC is a unit of state oil company Petronas.

Malaysian Offshore in Drastic Development

After the announcement of new offshore oil and gas development by PETRONAS Carigali, the exploration and production arm of Malaysian group Petronas, the offshore development in Malaysia has seen a new height.

The programme is worth MR2.8bn ($773m) of contracts to local suppliers for several drilling and production platforms for development of fields off the northern coast of Borneo and east of Peninsula Malaysia increasing production levels and deliver more supplies to a liquefied natural gas plant early next decade. The expected construction will be at least three years and involve the transportation of several jackets and topside modules from yards to field locations. It will involve a host of offshore vessels as the platforms are deployed and pipelines installed.

Petronas is developing fields offshore Sarawak, Sabah and off the state of Terengganu with new platforms and pipelines which when completed twill boost Malaysia's gas production by 950m cu ft per day. The multi-billion contract will see major development and increase in human capital and infrastructure in the local area.

BG and PETRONAS Agreed on Open Market for Dragon

BG and Petronas who both share and hold the capacity rights at Dragon LNG are expected to operate the terminal on an open-market basis allowing demand to dictate imports into the terminal. The Dragon LNG joint-development partnership comprises of 50% BG Group and Petronas with 30% and Dutch terminal developer 4Gas with 20%. Dragon LNG is built on a former refinery site taking advantage of two storage tanks and one jetty with capacity to handle 6.8 mtpa of LNG. 

Petronas - Australia Gladstone LNG Ink MoU

The Directors of Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd inked down a Technology Memorandum of Understanding with SK Engineering and Construction (SKEC) for the framework for SKEC and the Company to establish a technology joint venture. The JV is 50% each for between LNG (which is partly-owned by Malaysian O&G PETRONAS) and another 50% for SKEC.

The agreement focuses on:

• Completion of the final design of the OSMRTM process technology for inclusion in the Gladstone LNG Project front end engineering and design (FEED) package
• OSMRTM process technology license to the Gladstone LNG Project process guarantee.
• Colloboration for commercialisation of the OSMRTM process technology including development, marketing and LNG related processes.

PETRONAS EBITDA Increased 24%

PETRONAS, a Malaysian state-owned oil and gas major has posted a 24% year-on-year rise in its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) coming from sustained growth in demand for oil on the back of strong global economic expansion particularly in China and India. Revenue was up 21.2% to M$223.1 with PETRONAS profit after tax rose 31%. However, PETRONAS suffers drop in revenue for its petrochemical business segment nearly 7% due to decrease in production volumes from 9.8m tonnes to 9.3m tonnes.

PETRONAS Found Gas in Pakistan

Despite the regional political instability, PETRONAS Carigali Pakistan Ltd (PCPL), a unit of Petroliam Nasional Sdn. Bhd. (PETRONAS) existence in Pakistan progressed. PETRONAS Carigali had reportedly made a second gas discovery in Mubarak Block, located in Sindh Province, Pakistan.

Malaysian Terengganu Oil Wells to be Reopen by ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil will reopen abandoned oil wells in Terengganu waters to take advantage of the escalating crude oil price in the world market for investment value of US$2.3 billion under production sharing contract with Petronas renewal.

Reopen of the old oil wells will explore deeper in search for oil at a much higher investment cost which only become feasible at current oil price.

PETRONAS Sues Adani Energy

Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas is suing Adani Energy Ltd, subsidiary of Adani group for breach of contract in agreement to buy and sell liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The legal proceedings claimed $100 million in losses, way in excess of the Adani Energy revenue which may bring it to bankruptcy.

Petronas subsidiary, Asean LNG Trading Co. Ltd, has initiated legal action due to Adani Energy failure to service the contract to muster space at a cargo terminal in Gujarat in 2007 to take delivery of LNG. Asean LNG initiated arbitration proceedings against Adani Energy in London Court of International Arbitration in January, claiming damages for failure to adhere to the agreement.

India's rapidly expanding economy which a study conducted claims that for India to sustain a growth of 8-9% in gross domestic product its energy supply has to fourfold creating a massive influx of demand of LNG and other energy derivatives into the country.

PETRONAS Buys Stakes in Santos Australia LNG

Malaysia's State Oil Company, Petronas is buying a 40 percent stake in Australian energy firm Santos Ltd's Gladstone for $2.51 billion. Santos Gladstone is in the liquefied natural gas project in Australia.

Petronas' investment in the project will help to fasten the usage of coal seam gas as a feedstock as Petronas is seen as the ideal partner to help develop Santos' coal seam gas to LNG strategy.

Santos was quoting that Petronas will inject capital investment of $2.01 billion followed by remaining for the second LNG train at the Gladstone, Queensland. The key strategic alliance is due to marketing power of Petronas, the third-largest LNG producer in the world. Santos shares jumped 10.12 percent to a record high of A$20.90 by 0325 GMT, a proud achievement for both Santos and Petronas.

Other oil and gas companies such as Exxon Mobil are also taking lead in LNG project in Papua New Guinea with Santos for a race amid rising prices and a forecast surge in global demand.

Petrochemical Deals: PETRONAS Acquiring Star Energy

Petronas International Corporation has announced that it has successfully received valid acceptances of Star Energy Share by acquiring approximately 97.56% in value and voting rights of Star Energy Group PLC. The acquisition was done through PETRONAS subsidiary, Petronas International Corporation Ltd (PICL)

It is expected that the full transfer of Star Energy Shares in accordance with the compulsory acquisition notices will happen by March 2008.