Most people are familiar with the brand name exploration and production companies that come to Golden Chersonese and Borneo and extract hydrocarbons from the ground. However, have you wondered why there are no Malaysian production sharing contractors (PSCs) operating here? By Malaysian, I’ll use an ad-hoc definition and say that the company is majority owned by Malaysians.
It’s not that there aren’t any capable companies. Some existing companies I had in mind were:
- Genting Oil & Gas – to quote from their website “In China, the Division operates and produces oil from an onshore oilfield under a Petroleum Contract with Sinopec. In Indonesia, the Division has interests in four Production Sharing Contracts, which have been signed with BPMIGAS (Indonesia’s oil and gas supervisory body), and the Division operates three of these contracts, which are all in the exploration phase. While in Morocco the Division operates the Ras Juby Offshore Exploration Permit.”
- M3nergy – a very old acquaintance of mine. Rumour has it that they are bidding for operation of fields in India and Indonesia.
- PETRONAS Carigali – Okay, I throw this one into the mix to remind ourselves that they do have operations overseas. Whether they would be competitive enough, or given the opportunity to venture into Malaysia if they weren’t a subsidiary of PETRONAS, is an interesting discussion point.
It is said that we can’t have Malaysia PSC companies because:
- That politics will come into play, i.e. PLC (Politically Linked Companies). I say, so? In the mind of the rakyat, they already exist, and they are already part of the oil & gas community, albeit in the services and supplies sector. Is it the magnitude of revenue involved in a PSC that causes such an outcry?
- Greater scope of corruption. Please, you prefer to have corrupt expatriates exporting money to their overseas bank accounts, rather than corrupt locals exporting money to their overseas bank accounts? Within recent memory, wasn’t a CEO or President of a PSC company removed from his post because he was cutting personal deals? Unless people in the oil & gas industry are more corrupt than the national average, I don’t see this as a problem. A larger proportion of the revenue pie stays in Malaysia.
- Lack of expertise. This one bugs me. If you want, I can name and build a complete PSC team of people I would trust to be as competitive and ruthless as any foreign worker. They probably won’t be the people you want to invite to teh tarik after work, but it’s their competence I’m after, not airy fairy talk and ego stroking. Also, do you know how many locals are working overseas at all levels, from strategic to tactics? Give them a chance, and a decent wage, and I can forge 2 or 3 Malaysian PSC companies.
- Lack of funds. This I would agree with. But, where there is a will, there’s a way. Let some of the larger venture capitalist companies team up, maybe with an injection of funds from PETRONAS (remember how PCSB started out) and Khazanah (please, invest more of the rakyat’s money in Malaysia), and we should be able to put together a stable, profitable company that is in line with national interests. We may not be very profitable, as we would have social obligations and a Malaysianised corporate citizenship outlook, but give us a chance.
I humbly offer myself to be the No. 1 corrupt dude of these companies. I promise that I will only take 30% max on all transactions. Oh, and a holiday home as well, Kerteh and Redang would be nice.
Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 
All: I just realised I locked out comments for this article.My apologies.
I will accept your apologies graciously.
its okey sir..we all human being.