Petronas has launched, through Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), the Malaysia Bid Round 2026, comprising nine exploration blocks and six Discovered Resource Opportunities (DROs), Petronas announced on Wednesday.
The exploration blocks on offer are SB304 in the frontier onshore-offshore Sandakan Basin, SK404, SK330 and SK331 in the newly active West Sarawak Basin and PM440, PM447, PM448, PM159 and PM520 in the mature Malay Basin, which has produced more than 9 billion boe since its development began in the 1970s.
The DROs are presented as “ready-to-develop” assets supported by technical data to inform monetisation options, and comprise the Cempaka and Teratai clusters in peninsular Malaysia, the Enggang Cluster and NURI Funnel in Sarawak and the Nilam Cluster and Zamrud Funnel in Sabah.
“Malaysia’s energy demand will continue to grow, and the upstream will need to fulfil this demand to power our fast-growing digital economy and manufacturing backbone. The economic spin-off benefits also extend to downstream industries while providing feedstock to many others,” said Bacho Pilong, senior vice-president of MPM
Malaysia’s upstream will require investments of USD 12.7 billion-15.3 billion per year to maintain production momentum at desired levels, Pilong added.
In the context of the launch, Petronas signed technology MoUs with natural gas transportation technology firm Global FCNG, engineering and rotating equipment supplier ZDA Corporation and production infrastructure provider MTC Engineering.
Petronas is Malaysia’s national energy company. Its operations span upstream, downstream, gas and new energy sectors across more than 50 countries. In Malaysia, it manages all oil and gas resources through its exploration, development and production arm, Malaysia Petroleum Management.