Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
Unusual move, Malaysia’s Petronas to ink a 20 year contract to *import* LNG from the U.S.
Currently, all of Petronas LNG comes from MLNG in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia.
This may be related to the recent pushback from Sarawak regarding reclaiming their rights to Sarawak oil & gas, and Sarawak’s questioning of oil & gas royalties under the Petroleum Development Act 1974.
FROM THE THREAD
seems to me that Petronas is increasingly focusing on overseas oil & gas (and LNG) rather than domestic (Malaysia) oil & gas (and LNG). With the exception of the huge RAPID / Pengerang project just North of Singapore.
But even the downstream RAPID petrochemical project will be using *imported* crude oil as feedstock, and *not* domestic crude oil. Mostly crude from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The MLNG trains in Bintulu, Sarawak apparently are not producing sufficient LNG for Petronas to meet its export expectations, so now it seems that Petronas will bolster / supplement its LNG export plans by purchasing LNG from the U.S.
The gap seems to be widening between Petronas in Kuala Lumpur in Peninsular Malaysia, and MLNG in Bintulu in East Malaysia (Borneo island).
While Petronas has long wielded its Petronas (local Malaysia content) license requirements with an iron fist as a monopoly within Malaysia, it seems that Petronas is not keen on submitting to Sarawak's new, additional (local Sarawak content) license requirements. Amusing irony.
The "local content" of Sarawak is far different from Petronas' concept of "local content" in Peninsular Malaysia.
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