Mubadala Petroleum, the government-owned oil and gas producer, has diversified its exploration interests in Malaysia through an equity swap agreement with Royal Dutch Shell.
The trade gives Mubadala Petroleum access to the deepwater offshore through a stake in Block 2B, which is operated by Shell. In exchange, Shell will take a fifth of Block SK320 operated by Mubadala Petroleum, whose expertise is grounded in onshore and shallow offshore.
“The equity swap agreement is an important step for Mubadala Petroleum’s growth strategy in Malaysia and marks our first partnership in South East Asia with Shell, an important player in deepwater exploration,” said Maurizio La Noce, the chief executive of Mubadala Petroleum.
Mubadala Petroleum also announced that it had made two gas discoveries, which it named Pegaga and Sintok, and will drill new wells for appraisal. It and a subsidiary of the Malaysian state oil company Petronas won the rights to Block SK320 in 2010.
“In relation to our recent exploration success, we need to do further work to determine the full extent and commerciality of those discoveries. But coupled with the new partnership with Shell, we are moving our business in Malaysia in a positive direction,” said Mr. La Noce.
The work there is part of the multi-pronged effort by Abu Dhabi to invest in Malaysia. In 2010, the same year Mubadala Petroleum and a Petronas subsidiary won the rights to Block SK320, its parent company Mubadala Development announced plans for billions of dollars of investment in the country’s energy and real estate sectors. Projects under consideration included the development of a 34-hectare financial district with an estimated cost of US$8.4 billion and a $7bn investment in an aluminium project in eastern Malaysia.
In March, the emirate’s International Petroleum Investment Company signed a deal to invest $6.7bn to build a strategic oil storage site in Malaysia. Aabar Investments also agreed to invest Dh21.26bn in “high-impact projects vital to long term economic and social growth of Malaysia” through a strategic partnership with 1Malaysia Development, another government-owned development company.
ayee@thenational.ae