Eni and Petronas ponder pooling Southeast Asian upstream assets

Italy’s energy major Eni and Malaysia’s state-owned energy player Petronas have entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the option of establishing a joint venture (JV) holding company to oversee selected upstream assets in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The duo announced an “exclusive” MoU enabling them to combine approximately 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of reserves with an additional 10 billion boe of potential exploration upside in two Asian countries.

As stated, the JV would create opportunities for growth in both countries, enabling the pair to become a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) player in the region while delivering a “sustainable” 500 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd) production in the medium term.

While the current assets’ operational structure would remain the same, the two companies hope to raise external financing on a standalone basis. They also intend to develop a comprehensive business plan to explore future opportunities in exploration, development, and potential portfolio growth.

Eni and Petronas say they aim to ensure stability in production for Malaysian assets while supporting timely new developments in Indonesia. The governments of both Asian countries have been informed and the final transaction will be conditional upon relevant governmental, regulatory, and partner approvals.

The Italian company and its shareholding partners, CDP Equity and Siem Industries, recently expressed their approval for the proposed business combination of Saipem and Subsea7.

Meanwhile, after concluding the Malaysia Bid Round 2024 (MBR 2024) by inking deals with Inpex, Petronas announced a new licensing round, MBR 2025. The round encompasses five exploration blocks and three discovered resource opportunities (DROs).