News Americas, New York, NY, 22 November 2024: Malaysian energy giant Petronas is emerging as a key player in Guyana’s energy landscape, taking center stage in a shallow-water oil block there after the Exxon Mobil-led consortium ended talks with the Guyanese government.
Exxon Mobil, along with Hess Corporation and China’s Cnooc, had secured offshore Block S8 in a 2022 bidding round. However, negotiations broke down this year after Exxon reportedly sought to use the area for carbon capture and storage. “We don’t want to do that at this stage,” Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said.
The change mirrors a similar development in neighboring Suriname earlier this week, where Exxon pulled out of an offshore oil block, leaving Petronas as the sole operator of what is considered one of the country’s most promising energy projects. .
As Exxon refocuses its regional strategy, Petronas is poised to strengthen its position in the energy sector across Guyana and Suriname.
Petroliam Nasional Berhad, known as PETRONAS, is Malaysia’s state-owned multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, the company oversees all of Malaysia’s oil and gas resources and operates in over 100 countries, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.
Ranked #216 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2022 and identified by Financial Times as one of the “seven younger sisters” of influential state oil companies, PETRONAS engages in a wide range of activities. These include upstream exploration, downstream refining, gas processing, LNG marketing, petrochemical production, transportation and even property investment. From 2015 to 2020, it provided over 15% of the Malaysian government’s revenue, underscoring its critical role in the country’s development.
