US supermajor ExxonMobil is transferring the operatorship of two production sharing contracts offshore Malaysia to Petronas Carigali, the upstream division of national energy behemoth Petronas, and not completely pulling the plug there. Reuters on Friday had reported that ExxonMobil had agreed to sell its Malaysian oil and gas assets to Petronas and exiting the Southeast Asian nation’s upstream sector, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. One of ExxonMobil’s key assets is the mature Tapis oilfield offshore Terengganu that has been producing for more than 45 years, and where an enhanced oil recovery project has been in operation since September 2014.
“This is not a sale and there will be no changes to [local subsidiary] EMEPMI’s working interest in the production sharing contracts,” EMEPMI said in a subsequent statement to Reuters. “This does not impact our other businesses in Malaysia — we remain committed to conducting business here as we have for more than 130 years.” Upstream in 2020 reported that ExxonMobil was progressing negotiations to divest its Malaysian upstream portfolio after electing the previous year to rationalise its global E&P asset base. The US heavyweight at the time operated four PSCs in Malaysia that accounted for one-fifth of the country’s oil output and about one-half of natural gas supplies to Peninsular Malaysia.
National energy company Petronas confirmed to Upstream that it is in talks regarding the transfer of operatorship of two of ExxonMobil’s PSCs located offshore Peninsular Malaysia. “The discussions are subject to further agreements between both parties,” said Petronas. “Petronas Carigali remains committed to safe operations, as well as maintaining reliable and uninterrupted energy supply for our customers throughout the process,” it added. Upstream has approached ExxonMobil for independent comment.
Source: upstreamonline.com