Energy companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC plan to invest a total of about $5 billion in Malaysia, the government said Tuesday.
The agreements come as Malaysia seeks to attract $444 billion in investments by 2020.
The largest deal disclosed Tuesday involves units of Exxon and Malaysian company Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas. ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Malaysia Inc. and Petronas Carigali intend to invest more than 10 billion ringgit, or about $3.25 billion, in new oil and natural-gas assets in the South Asian nation, the Malaysian government said in a written statement.
Shell's local arm, Shell Malaysia, plans to invest 5.1 billion ringgit to upgrade, expand or build facilities in the country.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's oil and gas-services provider, Dialog Group Bhd., will lead a consortium to develop a five-billion-ringgitt deepwater gasoline terminal in Johor state. Members of the consortium include the state government and Vopak NV, a storage company for oil products and chemicals that is based in the Netherlands.
Malaysia, which produced 657,700 barrels of oil and condensates per day as of Jan. 1, 2010, is expected become a net oil importer by 2013.
In November, Prime Minister Najib Razak introduced a package of tax incentives to boost oil production from mature fields, including cutting tax rates for the development of new oil and natural-gas resources and enhancing recovery from depleted fields.
The tax incentives will cost the country eight billion ringgit in foregone revenue for state oil corporation Petronas, which accounts for almost half of all government revenue, Mr. Najib said then.
