Petronas is set to be the biggest beneficiary in terms of boosting oil production following the resumption of oil export from landlocked South Sudan through pipelines in Sudan, according to Moody's Investors Service.
Petronas jointly owns a production facility in South Sudan which had been shut down for the most of 2012 due to a dispute between neighbouring countries.
The national oil company holds a 30% stake, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) 40%, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) of India 25% and Sudapet, the national oil company of Sudan, the remaining 5% in the facility.
Sudan and South Sudan signed an agreement to restart oil exports, setting a two-week deadline to resume the process of sending oil, a week ago.
Moody's vice-president and senior analyst Simon Wong said Petronas would be the biggest beneficiary among the partners, owing to its Sudanese operations being a larger contributor to overall production.
Crude production in Sudan and South Sudan accounted for about 7% of the company's total hydrocarbon production in 2011.
“In contrast, production in Sudan accounted for less than 4% of ONGC's and CNPC's total output.
“The successful resumption of production in South Sudan could see Petronas' production increase by about 120,000 barrels per day. Its production in Sudan was reduced by over 84% to 23,000 from 147,000 in 2012,” he said in statement.
Petronas Global Sukuk Ltd is rated as A1 stable, ONGC at Baa1 stable and CNPC at Aa3 positive.
Petronas president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas said during the company's 2012 results announcement that there could be a five to six-month lag from the time production in Sudan resumed before crude exports restarted.
“As a result, we do not expect a material cash flow contribution from South Sudan until 2014,” opined Wong.
The lost production in Sudan, coupled with an impairment charges taken on its gas assets in Egypt, contributed to a 14% decline in Petronas' net profits in 2012 to RM59bil.
Its portfolio of international exploration and production assets include production from emerging countries such as Sudan, Egypt and Iraq, where geopolitical risk is high.
South Sudan is landlocked and depends on pipelines running through its northern neighbour Sudan to transport oil out of the country.
A disagreement over pipeline charges paid to Sudan resulted in South Sudan shutting down its 350,000-barrels-per-day crude output since January 2012.
While both economies rely heavily on oil exports for revenue, ongoing disputes have delayed the restart of oil production.
Both countries recently agreed to install a meter system to measure the volume of fuel transported through the pipelines to mitigate future disputes.