Petroleum Industry in Malaysia

The investment in the Petroleum Industry in Malaysia stood at Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 57.2 billion, last year. This industry includes petroleum products, petrochemicals, and natural gas. The rapid expansion of the industry is chiefly credited to the accessibility of oil and gas as feedstock, a strong foundation of supporting services, well-developed infrastructure, and the country’s strategic location within ASEAN and its closeness to the key markets in Asia Pacific.

Malaysia has 14th largest natural gas reserves and 23rd largest crude oil reserves in the world. Last year, the country produced 5,891 million standard cubic feet of natural gas and 691,600 barrels of oil equivalent of crude oil per day. The country is also has the largest production unit at a single location of liquefied natural gas with production capacity of 23 million metric tonne per year.

The long term dependability and security of gas supply guarantees the sustainable development of Malaysia’s petroleum industry. The survival of a trans-peninsular gas transmission pipeline system and six gas processing plants has effected in a ready supply of gas to the industry.

To match the present gas reserves and to ensure further security of gas supply, Malaysia has partnered with other members of ASEAN for the supply of gas. Gas supply will be further improved with the execution of the ASEAN gas grid, a mission to make gas available to all the ten ASEAN countries.

With the full operation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), petroleum manufacturers in will profit from a single market. They will also benefit from the access to a larger Asia Pacific market. China being a net importer of petrochemicals, Malaysia's Free Trade Agreement with China will have new business opportunities for petrochemicals manufacturers in Malaysia.

Most of the petroleum companies work in association with Malaysia's national petroleum company, PETRONAS.

From being an importer of petroleum, Malaysia is now an exporter of major petroleum products. A wide range of petrochemicals like olefins, polyolefins, ethylene oxides, glycols, oxo-alcohols, exthoxylates, phthalic anhydride, acetic acid, acrylic acids, aromatics, styrene monomer, ethyl benzene, high impact polystyrene, vinyl chloride monomer, and polyvinyl chloride are produced in the country. These plants have also added considerably to the development of local downstream plastic processing activities by providing a stable supply of feedstock material for the plastic industry.