Petronas continues to seek overseas expansion
KUALA LUMPUR: National oil company, Petronas, will continue seeking opportunities to expand its presence overseas, despite the prolonged weak global oil prices, says executive vice-president and chief executive officer for Upstream, Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib.
He said the company needed to balance its output portfolio, which currently stood at 70 per cent gas and 30 per cent oil.
“We want to balance it (portfolio) a little better by positioning ourselves in the oil province, and this is where you see the recent announcement about us going into (oil) exploration blocks in Mexico. Today, we have three exploration blocks in Mexico,” he told Bernama.
He said part of the Gulf of Mexico in United States territory had always been a prolific deepwater oil production area.
“Mexico only recently opened its territory in the Gulf to foreign investors. We believed in those locations in deciding to bid and feel very thankful for getting three blocks,” he added.
Mohd Anuar said apart from Mexico, the company also planned to expand its presence in the Middle East, with its return to Iran in the study phase. The company has maintained a presence in Iraq from 2010.
As of 2016, Petronas upstream had entered 23 countries globally, with 216 producing fields, 381 offshore platforms and 21 floating facilities.
Pointing to the 2015 oil price crash as the start of a new challenging phase for the global oil and gas industry, Mohd Anuar said it would not deter Petronas from expanding its overseas presence and maintaining the annual production.
He said the company was also looking at expanding its presence in Southeast Asia and Asean, by leveraging on the good relationship between Malaysia and its neighbours.
“Our governments have been collaborating with one another. Thus, we also have a well-established collaboration between national oil companies.
“The Asean market has tremendous potential with 600 million people in the region. So, this is also an area of focus for Petronas’ upstream and downstream business,” he added.
Apart from oil, he said Petronas would also be focusing on developing its unconventional gas resources, mainly driven by its presence in Canada.
We want to balance it (portfolio) a little better by positioning ourselves in the oil province, and this is where you see the recent announcement about us going into (oil) exploration blocks in Mexico. Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, Petronas Executive Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer for Upstream