Malaysia is
important to world energy markets because of its huge oil and
natural gas resorts. Malaysia's oil production occurs offshore and
primarily near Peninsular Malaysia. Production however also takes
place offshore of Sabah (East Malaysia) and Sarawak. Current oil
reserves are estimated at approximately 3 Billion barrels with a
declining tendency, due to the lack of major new oil discoveries in
the last years. The most important oil fields are Bekok, Bokor, Erb
West, Bunga Kekwa, Guntong, Kepong, Kinabalu Pulai, Samarang, Seligi,
Semangkok, Tapis, Temana and Tiong.
Petronas is the state oil and gas company, other main producers
include Esso Production Malaysia Inc followed by Sabah Shell
Petroleum Company and Sweden's Ludin Oil. Main importers of
Malaysian oil are Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore.
Malaysia's natural gas production has been rising steadily in recent
years. In 2000 Malaysia accounted for approximately 15% of total
liquefied natural gas exports and is estimated to contain a 75
trillion cubic feet natural gas resort. Malaysia mainly exports
natural gas to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Major natural gas
fields include Bedong, Bintang, Damar, Jerneh, Laho, Lawit, Noring,
Pilong, Resak, Telok and Tujoh.
Main Production occurs in the lower part of the Gulf of Thailand in
the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA) managed by the
Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority (MTJA). Malaysia's Production of
natural gas has recently also been expanded to Sarawak by the Bitulu
LNG complex. Leading producers of Malaysian natural gas are BP,
Amerada Hess, Petronas and Exxon Mobile. |