Once Malaysia starts importing crude, be prepared for a long slide (or climb) as Malaysians are forced to reduce their dependency on subsidies. And expect a rise in oil & gas opportunities as we try harder to extract the remaining oils in our soil. I suspect deepwater and enhanced oil recovery engineering will have an increased importance.
Taken from Bernama, dateline 2010-05-27:
Malaysia is likely to become an oil importer as early as next year at the current rate it is consuming petroleum, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala on Thursday.
Malaysians continue to be among the highest fuel consumers per capita in the world fuel consumption habits pattern which generally has remained relatively unchanged despite increased oil prices in 2008.
He also said that approximately 70 per cent of the government’s liquid petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy goes to commercial concerns and not the intended households.
About 30 per cent of the cooking oil subsidy is also abused, he said.
He said the government is proposing to phase out the petrol subsidy gradually in line with its move to strategically position Malaysia’s economy on a stronger footing to realise the aspirations of Vision 2020, which is to achieve a developed, high-income nation status.
Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 