Malaysian oil production hits ceiling at 2.0 mmboed
Sopuruchi Onwuka
Oil and gas production from the state of Malaysia will reach the maximum capacity of 2.0 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMboed) by next year before maintain a plateau of taking a plunge.
The Malaysian national oil company, Petronas, declared at the Energy Asia conference that the country’s oil and gas production would reach the highest possible output volume by 2024, adding that future production would be mainly gas.
Head of Exploration and Production, Adif Zulkifli, is quoted in a Reuters report that natural gas accounts for about 65 percent of Petronas’ hydrocarbon production.
“We continue to look for more gas portfolio, but of course, there is commitment in Malaysia, I think we need to continue to do some oil exploration to fill up our refineries,” Zulkifli said.
Despite expectations of peak production, Petronas is looking for gas production expansion opportunities abroad, the executive also said, noting the Canada LNG project, where it holds a 25% stake, will add some 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily to its total.
Based on the company’s own production figures, however, oil and gas output appears to have peaked last year. The daily average of Petronas in that year stood at 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, Reuters noted.
A day earlier, the secretary-general of OPEC forecast that global oil demand will rise to 110 million barrels daily by 2045, with overall energy demand rising by 23% over that period.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian company is also looking to diversify into other areas: it announced this week a business venture with TotalEnergies and Japanese Mitsui for the development of carbon capture and storage capabilities.
Carbon capture and storage is drawing growing interest from the oil and gas industry as pressure from activists and governments increases to reduce their emission footprint by any means necessary.
Activists are not big fans of CCS but some oil and gas companies tend to see it as a move that makes the most sense for them in comparison to entering wind and solar power.
