Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) plans to maintain Malaysia’s oil and gas production at approximately two million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe/d) through 2028, according to the company’s president and group chief executive officer, Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz.
In his keynote address at the opening ceremony of Oil and Gas Asia (OGA) 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Tengku Muhammad Taufik outlined the company’s strategy to achieve this target through sustained investment in exploration, deep-water development, and enhanced recovery techniques applied to PETRONAS’ existing assets. He emphasized that maintaining production levels would depend on evolving the company’s approach to partnerships, moving beyond traditional models.
Highlighting PETRONAS’ collaboration with its regional partner Eni in the venture Searah Ltd, Tengku Muhammad Taufik described a model based not only on leadership sharing but also on combining capital, technical expertise, and jointly assuming development risks. He said this approach enables both partners to pursue opportunities on a scale that neither could achieve independently.
This partnership-driven strategy extends across PETRONAS’ portfolio, incorporating tailored commercial structures and technical collaborations suited to the specific dynamics of each opportunity. The CEO stressed that the best outcomes have resulted from integrating PETRONAS’ domestic knowledge with the capabilities of external partners amid increasing operational challenges in the industry.
Beyond operators, Tengku Muhammad Taufik urged Malaysia’s oil and gas services and equipment (OGSE) sector to expand its reach regionally and globally, leveraging over four decades of industry experience. He called for these companies to elevate their productivity, financial resilience, digital maturity, and governance standards in order to be recognized as trusted partners on a larger scale.
“More importantly, you must also have the conviction to invest ahead of this demand,” he noted, emphasizing the need for the local ecosystem to be interconnected, capable, and competitively positioned for the future.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik also highlighted that competitiveness should not be assessed solely on the ability to secure immediate contracts under favorable conditions, but by the capacity to remain relevant over the coming decade amid changing technologies, workforce requirements, and capital dynamics in the oil and gas sector.