Dateline 2011-01-19:
PETALING JAYA: It is understandable that when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced billions of ringgit worth of investment in the oil and gas industry to enhance oil extraction from marginal fields, there was quite a bit of excitement generated among industry players as well as in the stock market.
The announcement was made on Jan 11 in the third update of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) with investments (some of it ongoing) by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) together with partners Exxon Mobil Corp and Shell Malaysia totalling over RM15bil.
While the stock market was already on an uptrend, oil and gas counters became the focus of investors over the two days following the announcement. For example, the share prices of Kencana Petroleum Bhd and SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd were at their highest for the year on Jan 12.
There are now expectations that Petronas would award multi-billion ringgit contracts for the development of marginal oil fields by the end of this month to several consortia comprising local and foreign companies, which could involve the parties taking equity stakes in joint ventures.
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Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 