Petronas is stepping into Guyana’s offshore sector, with a long history of oil and gas development. The Malaysian state-owned company was created in 1974 and grew into one of the world’s foremost integrated energy producers. It explores, drills, refines, ships and markets oil and gas across more than 100 countries.
That experience now comes to Guyana as the basin continues to attract global players.
Petronas is best known for running Malaysia’s oil and gas industry for decades, overseeing mature offshore fields and developing new deepwater projects. It also built one of the world’s most advanced liquefied natural gas portfolios and operates the PETRONAS Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (PFLNG) units, the first floating LNG facility ever deployed. These projects combine offshore engineering, gas processing and large-scale commercial planning. All of these skills matter in frontier basins like Guyana, where rapid growth demands operators with proven capabilities.
The company also brings recent, relevant experience from right next door. Petronas is a major player offshore Suriname through its subsidiary PETRONAS Suriname E&P B.V. It holds interests in eight offshore blocks and operates several of them. Those blocks include 52, where the company made a string of discoveries, Sloanea-1, Roystonea-1, and Fusaea-1, after drilling in deepwater acreage similar to Guyana’s geology.
In 2025, Petronas and Staatsolie declared the Sloanea gas field commercial. That decision moved Suriname closer to a new offshore gas development with subsea wells, new infrastructure and a floating LNG vessel. Petronas expects to submit its development plan soon, targeting a final investment decision in 2026 and aiming for first gas around 2030. The project shows the company’s ability to take a discovery through appraisal, planning and development.
What Petronas offers Guyana is straightforward. It brings deepwater experience, a global supply chain and the financial strength to support multibillion-dollar projects. Its background in gas developments could matter as Guyana evaluates future gas resources beyond the current Gas-to-Energy project. And its work in Suriname means it already understands the geology, regulatory landscape and operational challenges in the shared basin.
Petronas joins Guyana’s energy sector, which is already moving at high speed. Its entry expands the pool of companies capable of drilling, developing and managing complex offshore fields, giving Guyana more partners to drive exploration and investment in the years ahead.
