MALAYSIA LNG SENDIRIAN BERHAD
MALAYSIA LNG SENDIRIAN BERHAD
- The Birth of Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG) Based in Bintulu, Sarawak
In the Early 1970s, Shell and Mitsubishi put forward the idea of forming a Malaysian LNG Company. Shell had discovered gas in the Central Luconia fields offshore Bintulu, in Sarawak. Mitsubishi and Shell had already worked with Brunei Government to develop an LNG Project in the country and once that was up and running, they turned their attention to Sarawak.
"As Sarawak (Malaysia) had bigger resources and, with continued technological developments, we would be able to build a bigger plant, bigger ships... So we put together a proposal to the Malaysian Government for a tripartite joint venture agreement"
While the Government was keen on the idea, there was no positive outcome from discussions held for some years. Given the complexity and cost of taking necessitates extensive in-depth analysis.
While these discussions could have cruised along for even longer, the OPEC oil embargo in 1973 cretaed a greater sense of urgency in the proceedings. A Coordinating Committee on Hydrocarbons set up by the Malaysian Government pushed the idea of LNG. At the same time, there was a momentum to have more control over Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak's hydrocarbon resources. Hence formed PETRONAS was formed in 1974 soon after the enactment of the PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT ACT.
In 1976, PETRONAS took over the discussions with Shell and Mitsubishi on the proposed LNG Project.
On 31st March 1978, an AGREEMENT was signed for the setting up of a joing venture in which :
(a) PETRONAS holds 65% Equity (b) Shell Gas BV holds 17.5% interest (c) Mitsubishi Corporation holds 17.5% interest
thus Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG) was born.
