KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): Malaysia’s national oil and gas company PETRONAS is aiming to ramp up its exploration and production activities in the coming three years after a slowdown in 2025.
The number of wells to be developed and explored will rise to 91 this year from 79 last year, the company officially known as Petroliam Nasional Bhd said in its latest Activity Outlook report. PETRONAS also expects to plug and abandon 70 wells this year versus 63 in 2025.
“PETRONAS will focus on revitalising Malaysia’s exploration and production landscape to strengthen domestic energy security,” the company said in the report released annually.
The activity outlook covers Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, and excludes the Malaysia-Thai Joint Development Area. The geological and geophysical segment, however, does not show seismic data acquisition activity in Sarawak in 2026-2028.
The activity outlook underlines PETRONAS’ Capital Project Investment Destination Masterplan 2030, aimed at improving domestic project delivery, strengthen competitiveness of local service players and position Malaysia as the preferred investment destination.
The company will also intensify exploration in new and mature areas, accelerate appraisal of recent discoveries and ensure “timely maturation of resources”, the report showed. Key projects include the Belud field off Sabah, as well as the Kurma Manis and Sepat fields off Peninsular Malaysia.
Apart from more drilling activities and well services, PETRONAS also expects higher volume for tubular goods, where demand is derived based on the number of development wells.
Demand for support vessels is also expected to be sustained, although man-hours for offshore maintenance, construction and modification would taper over 2026-2028, the report added.
For downstream business, one of the worst-hit last year due to oversupply, the goal in 2026-2028 is to enhance operational efficiency and reliability “to capitalise on global petroleum market recovery”, PETRONAS said.
The number of facility turnarounds — shutdowns for planned maintenance or upgrades — would also double this year to 12 plants, the report added.