Petronas

 ( Official Website ) 

The former Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was the first one who proposed the idea of Malaysia setting up an oil company in 1965, when he was the Deputy Federal Lands and Mines Minister. It was due to the pressure of the Sarawak people who sought to clarify the exact boundaries of Sarawak territorial waters. In fact, since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the issue of territorial waters of Sabah and Sarawak has not been fully addressed, thus leaving its interpretation wide open. The Sarawak government has declared that the territorial waters extend well beyond the three-mile limit defined by the Malaysian federal government. However, Abdul Rahman was reminded of Abdul Razak Hussein's act of installing him as the Sarawak Chief Minister. Therefore, Rahman decided to keep the conflict as low profile as possible. Rahman's nephew, Abdul Taib Mahmud assumed the role of Federal Deputy Land and Mines Minister after Rahman became Education Minister and later, the Sarawak Chief Minister. Taib believed in the sharing of oil royalties between the state and the federal government. During the time, the oil mining activities in Sarawak were still under the exclusive control of Shell. Taib initially suggested allowing independent contractors to market government oil. Taib found a Lebanese trader to purchase the Malaysian oil, however, the contractor defaulted on payments, resulting in US$4 million loss. A government hydrocarbon committee was later set up. Taib visited Indonesia and had a discussion with the Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company, Pertamina. Taib suggested that Malaysia scrap the concession system and replace it with a production sharing agreement. However, there were no laws that allowed Malaysia to take back the concessions without compensating foreign oil companies. Despite this, Taib decided to set up a statutory body named Hidrokarbon Malaysia (HIKMA; Malaysia Hydrocarbons), which would have total rights of oil found in the territorial waters of Sabah and Sarawak. However, Rahman protested his nephew's decision and threatened to take the federal government to court if Sarawak were to be left out of this oil deal. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the then-chairman of Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (Pernas), visited Rahman at the latter's private residence in Kuching. Tengku Razaleigh suggested the formation of a company instead of a statutory body where the former would distribute profits equally between the federal and the state governments. Rahman agreed with the suggestion. Tengku Razaleigh drafted the Petroleum Development Act together with his associates in secret, as instructed by Tun Razak, and to be completed before the 1974 Malaysian general election. Rahman then called Tengku Razaleigh to ask about the terms offered by the Malaysian federal government. Tengku Razaleigh then told Rahman regarding abolishment of the concession system. Meanwhile, 5% oil royalty will be given to the respective oil-producing states. Rahman agreed with the deal.: "When Taib became Minister of Land and Mines, he showed considerable interest in the development of this resource, and in his view, there should be a sharing of royalties between the State (i.e. Sarawak) and the federal government".: "Tengku Razaleigh visited Datuk Rahman, ... I suggested the formation of a company, not a statutory corporation, which would distribute profits equally between the Federal government and Sarawak in the form of cash payments. He accepted the proposal and I rushed back to Tun Razak with the news".: "The proceeds would accrue to Petronas, but 5 percent of the oil revenue thereafter would go to the state, and a similar amount to the Federal government. Rahman agreed".

In 1974, the Petroleum Development Act was tabled and approved in Parliament. Petronas was established and incorporated on 17 August 1974 pursuant to the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 with a paid-up capital of RM10 million. Tengku Razaleigh became its inaugural chairman. Business tycoon and Tengku Razaleigh's close friend, Ananda Krishnan also played a crucial role in Petronas' establishment, following his experience as an international oil trader. At the time of its establishment, Petronas' headquarters was originally situated at the wooden building within the Prime Minister's Office complex in Jalan Dato Onn, Kuala Lumpur with only 18 staff and two telephone lines before moving to a smaller office at the ENE Plaza, Jalan Pudu in mid-1975. Tengku Razaleigh pointed that all areas where the oil was discovered to be wholly owned by Petronas. He said that the oil company that will explore the resource will only be a contractor and negotiations with state governments will be carried out to obtain an exclusive oil exploration license by Petronas. In October 1974, the company planned a framework to set up a petrochemical company which cost RM300 million, to make fertilizers, plastic materials and artificial yarns.

Initially, Exxon and Shell refused to surrender their concessions and refused to negotiate with Petronas. Petronas then issued a notice to all foreign oil companies that after 1 April 1975, all foreign oil companies would be operating illegally in Malaysian waters if they do not start negotiations with Petronas. After a few rounds of negotiations, foreign oil companies finally surrendered their concessions to Petronas. While all other oil-producing states in Malaysia signed the petroleum agreement, Mustapha Harun, the Sabah Chief Minister, stubbornly refused to sign, complaining of the meagre 5% oil royalty. Mustapha requested 10 to 20% oil royalty, threatening to pull Sabah out of Malaysia. Tengku Razaleigh refused to budge. The Malaysian federal government then made another deal with Harris Salleh (who was out of favour with Tun Mustapha) to establish Berjaya party and oust Tun Mustapha. However, Harris was reluctant to become the Sabah Chief Minister, and Fuad Stephens was asked to assume to the Chief Minister post if Berjaya were to come to power. Berjaya successfully ousted Tun Mustapha in the 1976 Sabah state election. One week after the 1976 air crash which killed Fuad and other five state ministers, Harris signed the oil agreement. With Sabah entering the oil agreement, Petronas finally has total control of all oil and gas reserves in Malaysia.

On 1 September 1975, Petronas made its first shipment of 358,000 barrels of crude oil to Japan, about 14 months before the first Petroleum Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was signed. The company began to supply between 8,000 and 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the Philippines through an agreement signed on 11 June 1976. The agreement was reached through negotiations between Petronas and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) where Petronas is led by its Chairman and CEO, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah while the PNOC is led by its Chairman, Geronimo Z. Velasco. In November 1976, Petronas announced it would provide aviation fuelling facilities for the Bayan Lepas International Airport (now Penang International Airport), followed by two other airports from 1978.

Petronas first embarked on the oil exploration and production activities with the formation of Petronas Carigali in 1978. On 1 April 1978, Petronas signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation and Shell plc to set up a joint venture LNG company, Malaysia LNG with a cost of RM2.31 billion. Through the joint venture, Petronas holds 65% of equity interest, while Mitsubishi and Shells hold 17.5% each. In May of the same year, Petronas began its first crude oil export from the Pulau and Tapis wells in Terengganu waters to the United States. The export is subject to an agreement signed with Pecten Co. from the United States that Petronas agrees to supply 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day for a year to the country. Later, in June, the installation work of an oil exploration rig co-owned by Petronas and Esso began underway, enabling them to process 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day in Bekok, Terengganu. The Bekok rig, which costs RM68 million, has the capacity to drill 12 wells simultaneously and oil production work would likely begin in September. In 1979, Petronas was commissioned by the government as the Malaysian shareholder in the ASEAN urea project in Indonesia and also as an agency to make the project a success for the country.

In 1980, Petronas expanded its downstream businesses by setting up the ASEAN Fertilizer plant in Bintulu, Sarawak. In May 1980, Petronas signed a production-sharing agreement with BP Petroleum Development, Oceanic Exploration and Development, a division of British petroleum corporation BP, covering an area offshore Sabah. Under the agreement, these companies will prospect for hydrocarbons in an area of 3,660 square kilometres off the northeast of Sabah. Petronas' exploration subsidiary, Petronas Carigali and BP serves as the project's joint operators. Two months later, Petronas supplying 50% of LPG output to Summit Petroleum to help the latter stay on as a gas supplier in the market. It also has undertaken to supply 230 tonnes of LPG to Summit per month. In 1982, Petronas through its subsidiary, Petronas Carigali began to build five platforms in the Duyung and Sotong fields, about 224 kilometres off the coast of Terengganu. Three of the gas platforms will involve exploration, gas processing and another will house workers. All five platforms will be built by a Johorean company. Subsequently, in early November, Petronas signed an agreement with Esso for sales and purchases of natural gas for phase 1 of the Terengganu gas project. The company's first drillship for the operations of its subsidiary, Petronas Carigali, was launched on 15 January 1983 at the Promet Shipyard, Singapore. It was built at a cost of approximately RM70 million. The drillship was named as ‘Parameswara’ by Suhailah Noah, wife of the then-Petronas advisor, Hussein Onn, while at the same time, it intended to supply the LPG to Singapore for use by the Petrochemical Complex in Pulau Ayer Merbau as an addition to the gas supply promised earlier for the power stations here. Subsequently, in mid-1983, Petronas' drilling subsidiary, Petronas Marine was established to handle drilling contract work that required for the company's exploration of oil and gas. Petronas through its trading subsidiary, Petronas Dagangan began to set up a service station in September 1983 and planned to open 300 stations nationwide by 1990.

In 1984, Petronas moved to Dayabumi Complex after occupying various buildings in Kuala Lumpur. The company then acquired the Dayabumi podium and tower block from the Urban Development Authority (UDA; now UDA Holdings) for RM443 million after a sale agreement was signed four years later, in June 1988. The company sold a 5% stake in Malaysia LNG to the Sarawak in late 1985 for an undisclosed sum with a 60 per cent share. On 11 June 1988, Petronas signed 16th PSC with a consortium comprising two leading American and one Canadian firms, while concurrently entering into "an exploration boom". These companies – Sun Petroleum, Champlin and Gulf Canada – will cooperate with Petronas exploration subsidiary, Petronas Carigali to jointly explore oil in the Straits of Malacca. On 24 March 1989, Petronas signed a 15-year PSC with Sarawak Shell in which its exploration arm, Petronas Carigali would take over oil fields operated by Sarawak Shell in Baram Delta, off Sarawak.

Oil exploration was by no means at an end and could yet produce more reserves. The Seligi field, which came onstream at the end of 1988 and was developed by Esso Production Malaysia, was one of the richest oilfields so far found in Malaysia waters, and further concessions to the majors would encourage exploration of the deeper waters around Malaysia, where unknown reserves could be discovered. Meanwhile, computerised seismography made it both feasible and commercially justifiable to re-explore fields which had been abandoned, or were assumed to be unproductive, over the past century. In 1990, Petronas invited foreign companies to re-explore parts of the sea off Sabah and Sarawak on the basis of new surveys using up-to-date techniques.

Another way to postpone depletion was to develop sources of oil, and of its substitute, natural gas, outside Malaysia. Late in 1989, the governments of Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma) invited Petronas Carigali to take part in joint ventures to explore for oil in their coastal waters. In 1990, a new unit, Petronas Carigali Overseas, was created to take up a 15% interest in a field in Myanmar's waters being explored by Idemitsu Myanmar Oil Exploration Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Japanese firm Idemitsu Kosan, in a production sharing arrangement with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. Thus began Petronas' first oil exploration outside Malaysia. In May 1990, the governments of Malaysia and Thailand settled a long-running dispute over their respective rights to an area of 7,300 square kilometres in the Gulf of Thailand by setting up a joint administrative authority for the area and encouraging a joint oil exploration project by Petronas, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, and the US company Triton Energy. In a separate deal, in October 1990, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand arranged with Petronas to study the feasibility of transferring natural gas from this jointly administered area, through Malaysia to Thailand, by way of an extension of the pipelines laid for the third stage of the Peninsular Gas Utilisation Project.

That project was on course to becoming a major element in the postponement of oil depletion. Contracts for line pipes for the second stage of the project were signed in 1989 with two consortia of Malaysian, Japanese, and Brazilian companies. This stage, completed in 1991, included the laying of 730 kilometres of pipeline through to the tip of the Peninsula, from where gas could be sold to Singapore and Thailand; the conversion of two power stations—Port Dickson and Pasir Gudang—from oil to gas; and the expansion of Petronas' output of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), propylene, and polypropylene, which were already being produced in joint ventures with Idemitsu Petrochemical Co. of Japan and Neste Oy of Finland. The third and final stage of the project was to lay pipelines along the northwest and northeast coastlines of the Peninsula and was completed in 1997.

Another new venture in 1990 was in ship-owning, since Petronas' existing arrangements with MISC Berhad and with Nigeria's state oil company would be inadequate to transport the additional exports of LNG due to start in 1994, under the contract with Saibu Gas. In February 1991, Petronas announced its intent to begin oil and gas exploration in deepwater offshores while citing that "most shallow areas have been taken up". In August the same year, Petronas began to sending two cargoes of its new Dulang crude oil for spot processing in China and Singapore to ensure its good quality. Petronas through Petronas Carigali signed an agreement with Vietnamese oil company, Petrovietnam in September 1991 to exploring oil in two offshore areas of the southern coast of Vietnam. The company began to supply 15,000 barrels of crude oil for one-year term from October to two refineries belongs to the Petroleum Authority of Thailand in an agreement signed on 24 September. In October, the company acquired 15 and 20 per cent stakes in two oil exploration blocks in China, with each blocks in the Gulf of Bohai and the Pearl River Mouth basin respectively from the British Petroleum. Prior to the acquisition, Petronas has signed a PSC for two offshore blocks in Vietnam. In early 1992, Petronas began to commission two additional oil platforms at Baronia field in the Baram Delta, off Sarawak. The company then secured a RM510 million loan on 15 February 1992 to part-financed a massive gas transmission network. The loan is provided by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and guaranteed by 10 financial institutions as well as Petronas Gas' officials. Petronas and the two consortia of Malaysian and Japanese companies signed a joint venture agreement on 30 March to set up a natural gas distribution for Peninsular Malaysia, in which the company holds 20% shares, while MMC-Shapadu Holdings and Tokyo Gas holds the remaining 55% and 25% shares respectively. Two months later, in May 1992, Petronas starts negotiations with Mobil and Shell plc to renew term contracts, which to be expired in July for processing its domestic crude oil while seeking for a lower fees in Singapore. On 12 May, Petronas through its marine subsidiary, Petronas Marine allocates RM5139.5 million from the offshore capital markets to provide financial assistance to three of five new LNG tankers. It is the largest syndications ever made by Petronas. In July, a one year term deal has been renewed. It also has another contract with BP to process 5,000 barrels of oil per day, which to be expired in September. The company signed a joint venture agreement with Novacorp in September that year to set up a new energy company, Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Technical Services which would act as a management consultant of several projects.

In February 1993, Petronas partnered with American oil and gas company, ConocoPhillips to jointly develop a second Petronas-owned oil refinery in the country. The refinery is to be located in Tangga Batu, Sungai Udang district, Malacca with the capacity to refine 100,000 to 130,000 barrels of sour crude per day. The company began to stop processing crude oil in Singapore beginning July 1993, citing "as there has been no accord yet with two refiners for renewing term processing". In August, it also had reduced term crude oil processing in that country due to higher refining fees for the year 1993 and shrinking profit margins. This after negotiations with one of two refiners to renew contracts was expired a month earlier. The company, through Petronas Marine also signed a 20-year agreement with Mitsubishi's wholly owned subsidiary, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to repair and maintain five LNG tankers. Petronas and Tenaga Nasional signed a power agreement on 1 October 1993 to enable the latter supplying electricity to the company's Phase One refinery project (PSR1) at Sungai Udang and for future industrial development needs in the surrounding areas. Six days later, it partnered with Sarawak Shell to spend RM9 billion over a 20-year period to develop gas fields off the East of Sarawak.

On 17 February 1994, the first shipment of 400,000 barrels of crude oil arrived at the new refinery at Tangga Batu, 14 kilometres from Kerteh, Terengganu. The second Petronas refinery in Tangga Batu that was completed and began operations in May 1994 with a capacity of , promoted the same policy. The fact that it was built in a joint venture with Samsung of Korea, the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan, and Caltex of the United States did not negate the policy, for the subsidiary company Petronas Penapisan (Melaka) had a decisive 45% of equity while sharing the enormous costs of and gaining advanced technology for the project. More to the point, a side effect of the refinery's completion was that Petronas was able to refine all of the crude oil it produced, instead of being partially dependent on refining facilities in Singapore. It also has signed 11 billion yen (RM 170.9 million) syndicated term loan to refinance existing yen loans which that linked to its gas grid project in Labuan in August that year. Petronas inked a long-term agreement with Tohoku Electric Power in July to supply 500,000 tonnes of LNG annually to the latter. By the end of August 1994, the company shuts down output from the offshore Tapis field in order to underwent a routine maintenance. It also has stopped producing oil from the field of the South China Sea on 27 August. During the mid to late 1990s, international exploration, development, and production remained key components in Petronas' strategy along with diversification. A key discovery was made in the Ruby field in Vietnam in 1994. That year, the firm also saw its first overseas production from the Dai Hung field in Vietnam and established its first retail station outside of Malaysia in Cambodia. On 2 November 1994, Petronas signed a contract with Mobil to explore for oil in deepwater areas of the South China Sea. The contract consists of two blocks off Borneo island, above all Sarawak. A week later, on 9 November, Petronas signed an agreement with ConocoPhillips to build a second crude oil refinery where Petronas holds a 45 per cent stake in the venture and Conoco holds the remaining 40 per cent. In 1995, a subsidiary was created to import, store, and distribute liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In addition, the company's polyethylene plant in Kerteh began operations. Petronas marked a significant milestone during this time period—two of its subsidiaries, Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas, went public on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now Bursa Malaysia). The company formed a contract with China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Chevron Overseas Petroleum in July 1995 to begin the exploration of block 02/31 of the Liaodong Bay area in China. Petronas went on to sign an agreement with four companies in August to supply gas to the third LNG plant project in Sarawak. Those companies — Occidental Petroleum, Sarawak Shell, Petronas Carigali and Nippon Oil — jointly developed and produced gas from the Central Luconia area in offshore Sarawak. In September, the company, through its subsidiary Petronas Carigali expanding outside Southeast Asia began to strike oil in Syria, which had been made from the exploratory wells drilled in the East Ash Sham blocks. The company signed a deal with the Japanese Government to sell LNG to Sendai city in Japan. Under a deal signed on 15 November 1995, Petronas would supply up to 152,000 tonnes of LNG annually to Sendai for 20 years starting in May 1997. In December, the company inked a deal with Japan's Nippon Oil, Occidental LNG and Shell Gas BV of the Netherlands to build a multi-billion-dollar natural gas plant, which is the third to be built in Malaysia.

In March 1996, the company began to undertaking a Petrochemical Master Plan study and helped to formulate a Gas Master Plan for the Indochinese country. Subsequently, it partnered with Sinopec, Nissho Iwai, Guangdong Province Petroleum Enterprise Group and Yangjiang Company to envision the construction of a liquefied petroleum gas bottling, storage and distribution plant in Yangjiang City, Guangdong, China. In May the same year, Petronas entered the aromatics market by way of a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate, Mitsubishi Corporation that created Aromatics Malaysia. As part of its globalization plan, the company purchased 30% stake of the former sub-Saharan branch of Mobil Oil in June, rebranded as Engen Petroleum. While the Asian economy as a whole suffered from an economic crisis during 1997 and 1998, Malaysia was quick to bounce back due to successful government reforms. From its new headquarters in the Petronas Twin Towers, the state-owned company continued its development in the oil and gas industry.

During 1997, Petronas heightened its diversification efforts. In February, Petronas and German chemical company, BASF agreed to co-embark on the construction and operation of three petrochemical plants at the Gebeng Industrial Estate in Kuantan, Pahang. Petronas partnered with British petroleum company, BP through its subsidiary, BP Chemicals to jointly invest in a 500,000 tonnes per annum acetic acid plant in Kuantan. The plant scheduled to begin operations at the end of 1999. On 21 March, the company introduced an incentive in its PSC to "encourage more exploration investments" and to "enhance the country's oil and gas reserves" through a new concept called "Revenue-over-Cost" which aimed to reward efficient contractors. Its first LPG joint venture in China was launched on 29 March that year. Subsequently, in August the same year, Petronas, through its subsidiary, Petronas Chemicals partnered with BASF to set up a joint-venture company, the BASF Petronas Chemicals. The new joint-venture operates the Verbund Integrated Site located in the Gebeng Industrial Zone, Pahang. The company's share capital is 60% held by BASF while the remaining 40% held by Petronas. A month later, the company announced the aromatics complex in Kertih, Terengganu, which adjacent to its refinery operated by Petronas Penapisan (Terengganu), began construction by a consortium led by Toyo Engineering Corporation and is scheduled to commenced operations by the fourth quarter of 1999. On 16 September, the company acquired a 29.3% interest in MISC Berhad (MISC).

In 1998, Petronas' tanker subsidiary, Petronas Tankers merged with MISC, increasing the company's stake in MISC to 62%. In March, the company acquired the entire shipping business from Konsortium Perkapalan in a cash deal which both companies denied was "a bailout of the listed vehicle" of the then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's son, Mirzan. That year, Petronas introduced the Petronas E01, the country's first commercial prototype engine. The company also signed a total of five new production sharing contracts (PSCs) in 1998 and 1999, and began oil production in the Sirri Island field in Iran. On 1 April 1998, Petronas began to change its crude pricing mechanism. Under the new mechanism, the new monthly crude prices will use 100% base components of Asia Petroleum Prices Index (APPI) quotes.

In March 1999, Petronas signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South African oil company, Sasol to exploring cooperation between the two companies, including the establishment of a new oil company. On 25 March 1999, the company's science centre, Petrosains was established and began operations to provide "an information learning centre on the petroleum industry and related technology". The company also began to diversify into non-traditional countries like Indonesia, India and China. On 7 December 1999, the company signed a deal with Bruneian energy company, SKBB Holdings to cooperated in petroleum and related businesses. The deal enable SKBB to import, store and sell Petronas petroleum products through retail stations in Brunei under the Petronas brand.

By 2002, Petronas had signed seven new PSCs and secured stakes in eight exploration blocks in eight countries, including Gabon, Cameroon, Niger, Egypt, Yemen, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The firm also made considerable progress in its petrochemicals strategy, opening new gas-based petrochemical facilities in Kerteh and Gebeng. It also planned to divest its remaining 15.4 of its shares in Proton Holdings in order "to help the government-owned investment arm consolidate shares" in the carmaker. In May the same year, Petronas announced to introduce the natural gas-powered Enviro 2000 cars to the Philippines in order to promote the usage of clean and cheap fuel while also planning to expand operations there. The company announced in June that it was interested to acquire stakes in Singapore Refining. In September 2002, Petronas discovered new oil and gas reserves in the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea with a flow rate of 14,176 barrels of oil and 19.05 million standard cubic feet. The company buy out minority shareholders in oil group Energy Africa in December.

By 2003, Malaysia was set to usurp Algeria as the world's second-largest producer of LNG with the completion of the Malaysia LNG Tiga Plant. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad commented on the achievement in a May 2003 Bernama article, claiming that "the Petronas LNG complex now serves as another shining example of a vision realized of a national aspiration, transformed into reality by the same belief among Malaysians that 'we can do it'".

In 2004, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Mustapa Mohamed, stated that Petronas contributed RM25 billion to the country's treasury accounting for 25% of revenue collected via dividends and other revenues. In January the same year, Petronas has inked a joint venture for an offshore oil exploration project in the Philippines. The company announced in November that it would likely to privatise more subsidiaries as it pursues costly international expansion, which former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad said that it "should remain in state hands" while stated that "it all depends upon the finances of Malaysians".

On 2 May 2006, Petronas awarded a deepwater exploration block in offshore Vietnam, in a joint-venture deal with Chevron Corporation. The PSC for Block 122, which covers 6,981 square kilometres, marks the company's first deepwater acreage in Vietnamese territory. In October the same year, Petronas signed a 25-year agreement with China's Shanghai LNG to supply 3.03 million tonnes of LNG per year. The deal was estimated $25 billion based on current prices. It became Petronas's first LNG deal with China and marked a milestone in the expansion of its relationship with the country. The LNG will be delivered from the company's LNG complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, to Shanghai LNG's receiving terminal in Zhejiang Province.

On 20 September 2007, Petronas has reached an agreement to acquire the Italian lubricant manufacturing company, FL Selenia from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) for about RM1.4 billion, subject to regulatory approval. In November 2007, the company acquires Star Energy for RM6.9 million with the aim "to gain control of the UK's second-largest onshore oil producer", but later divested it in 2011 when iGas Energy acquired stakes in Star Energy from Petronas. Petronas said the divestment of Star Energy enable it to focus on optimising the Humbly Grove Gas Storage facility as part of its strategy "to focus on growing its European asset returns through marketing and trading".

Petronas continued to focus on international exploration projects as 40% of revenue in 2008 was derived from international projects such as Iran, Sudan, Chad and Mauritania. The company's international reserves stood at 6.24 billion barrels oil equivalent in 2008. The Petronas overseas expansion drive continues with the acquisition of Woodside Energy's Mauritania assets for $418 million in 2007. The venture proved successful as they discovered oil in May 2008.

Petronas signed a RM363 million deal on 1 September 2010 to acquire BP's interests in two petrochemical plants in Terengganu. On 26 July 2011, Petronas signed two gas supply agreements related to the Kebabangan cluster PSC area off Sabah. These deals aimed to distribute natural gas from the cluster PSCs to both customer sectors in Sabah and to the company's LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak. The first agreement involved the company acquired gas from the PSC contractors and acting as an aggregator, while the second involved Petronas and the PSC contractors as joint sellers to MLNG Dua. Two days later, Petronas through its exploration subsidiary, Petronas Carigali has discovered two significant natural gas fields in shallow waters off the west coast of Sabah. These discoveries were made at the Zuhal East-1 well in the Samarang Asam Paya Block and the Menggatal-1 well in Block SB312. The estimated gas-initially-in-place for these discoveries was about 550 billion standard cubic feet (BCF) and 650 BCF, respectively. In November, Petronas was in talks with several of its oil and gas counterparts, including Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, to develop petrochemical plants within its RM25.8 billion refinery complex in Johor.

In June 2012, Petronas announced its intent to acquire Canadian energy company, Progress Energy Resources about US$5.3 billion. The acquisition will allow Petronas a "control of vast shale gas reserves in Canada". On 29 October 2012, Petronas sources said it would renew a bid for Progress Energy Resources after Canada blocked its bid earlier that month. The $6-billion bid was approved by Ottawa on 7 December 2012. The company's acquisition of Progress Energy was completed and approved by the then-Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper on December 10. Petronas acquired about 100,000 barrels of 95-octane petrol from the Singapore spot market in November 2012, which is considered as "a rare move" by Singaporean traders.

On 17 January 2013, Petronas issued a statement that an onshore oil and gas discovery has been made in the state after drilling a test well about 20 kilometres away from the city of Miri in northern Sarawak. The well was found to have a net hydrocarbon thickness of 349 meters. It had flow rates of 440 barrels of crude oil per day and 11.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The find is the first onshore oil discovery in Malaysia in 24 years. In July, the company planned to sell its stake in a US$20 billion Canadian LNG export project to as low as 50%, while intended "to share the cost of bringing cheap energy to Asia". It also in talks with Sinopec to obtain at least 10% of equity stake. In September, Petronas withdrew from the Petrocarabobo crude oil project in Venezuela following disagreements with the Venezuelan authorities and state-run PDVSA.

On 2 May 2015, Petronas completed its acquisition of oil and gas assets in Azerbaijan from Norwegian oil company, Statoil (now Equinor) for US$2.25 billion. Plagued by the 2010s oil glut, Petronas reported on 26 February 2015 that it cut its 2015 capital expenditures budget after reporting a $2 billion fourth quarter loss, the company's first loss since it began reporting quarterly results five years ago. In October, despite the tumble in oil and gas prices has hurt its profitability, the company reaffirms its commitment to its LNG project to Canada, which began in September. The proposed company's LNG project in Canada was approved by the Canadian Government in September 2016.

Petronas announced in March 2016 that it would laid off 1,000 of its workers as part of its corporate restructuring scheme which took place effective the first day of April that year. The restructuring was made as part of the company's transformation to optimize operations and reduce costs. This comes after its counterpart, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it would terminate 1,300 out of 6,500 of its workers in Malaysia a year before.

On 30 March 2017, Petronas and Singaporean energy company, Pavilion Energy inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore LNG collaboration opportunities. The deal was made to "explore the supply and optimisation of LNG including spot trading and cargo swaps". Two days later, on 1 April, Petronas' PFLNG Satu, the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, has achieved a new milestone with the successful loading of its first cargo at the Kanowit gas field, offshore Bintulu, Sarawak. On 25 July 2017, Petronas cancelled a $36-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, the Pacific Northwest LNG, which was considered ambitious and a priority in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Both the company and the province blamed poor global LNG market conditions.

On 9 April 2019, Petronas was praised for its role in the Sudanese oil and gas industry by Minister of Oil and Gas engineer Yagoub Adam Bashir Gamaa. Later, on 15 April, Petronas acquires 100% interest in Singaporean energy company, Amplus Energy Solutions, also known as M+ as part of its strategy to move into renewable energy, pursuing highgrowth business to complement its business operations.

In January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Petronas through its subsidiary, Petronas LNG signed a heads of agreement (HoA) with Shenergy Group to supply approximately 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG to its Wuhaogou receiving terminal in China. The agreement is a 12-year term beginning in 2022 and ended in 2034.

In 2024, Petronas, Italy's Eni, and Japan's Euglena Co. announced a final investment decision to establish a biorefinery in Malaysia. A joint venture will oversee the construction, slated to begin in the fourth quarter of this year at Petronas's integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in Pengerang, Johor. The facility is designed to process approximately 650,000 tons of raw materials annually, producing sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogenated vegetable oil, and bio-naphtha. The biorefinery is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2028.

Another PSC (the deep-water model) was developed in 1985 to attract other oil companies to enter the Malaysian oil mining scene, while taking into account the rising cost of oil exploration (cost oil of 28%). Sharing of oil revenue become more flexible, depending upon the depth of the oil is found. The deeper the oil seeps (from 200 meters to more than 1 km), the higher the cost oil (50 to 75%). However, foreign oil companies will get higher share of profit oil (from 30 to 85%) in deep-water oil mining.

In 1997, revenue over cost (R/C) model was adopted for PSC. PETRONAS will get higher share of profit oil as R/C ratio increases. In the meantime, 10% oil royalty stays the same throughout the years. Overall, the earns 13.3% on R/C model and 12.5% on deep-water model. Meanwhile, the federal government earns 37% in R/C model and 25% in deep-water model.

In 2007, PETRONAS revenue come from petroleum exports from Malaysia (50%), domestic operations (20%) and international operations (30%). The weightage of the revenue streams were similar in 2020, where international operations accounted for 33% of total revenue received by the company.

PETRONAS continuously provides the Malaysian government dividends from its profits. Since its inception in 1974, it have paid the government RM 403.3 billion, with RM 67.6 billion in 2008. The payment represents 44% of the 2008 federal government revenue. PETRONAS paid RM 54 billion in dividends to the federal government in 2019. In 2022, the company contributed RM 50 billion to the federal government.