Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Oil was discovered at Miri in northern Sarawak in 1910, thus ushering in Malaysia's long history as an oil producer. However, it was not until after successful exploration in offshore areas of Sarawak, Sabah and peninsular Malaysia in the 1960s and 1970s that the republic really emerged as a major producer.

Proved reserves, as reported by Oil & Gas Journal, remained in the vicinity of 4 billion barrels from the early 1990s to end-2001, when they were reduced to 3 billion barrels, a level retained for end-2005. OPEC quotes the same level and World Oil a slightly lower figure (possibly reflecting its policy of excluding NGLs), whereas BP's assessment is substantially higher, at 4 200 million barrels.

After following a rising trend since 2001, crude oil production fell by 8.5% in 2005; however condensate output rose sharply to a new peak. In 2004, over 50% of Malaysian crude oil production was exported, chiefly to Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan and India.