Petroliam Nasional is seeking to expand its liquefied natural gas exports to growing Asian markets while also supporting Malaysia’s rising energy needs, which are partly driven by a data centre boom.
The state-owned company’s diversified portfolio — which includes a newly operational export plant in Canada — will enable it to meet overseas demand for gas, said Adif Zulkifli, CEO of Petronas’ gas and maritime business.
The firm plans to expand beyond its traditional markets — Japan, China and South Korea — to countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and the Philippines, he said in an interview.
But the gas-producing country is also eyeing more imports because its reserves are dwindling at a time when its energy requirements are growing thanks to a proliferation in power-hungry data centers serving the artificial intelligence industry. Malaysia imported about 3.3 million metric tonnes of LNG in 2024, up from 2.1 million tonnes in 2021, according to Bloomberg’s vessel-tracking data.
Petronas will continue exploration for more resources to sustain its domestic production, which has already peaked, Adif said. It operates one of the world’s largest LNG terminals in Bintulu on the Sarawak coast, and has enough gas to fill up its plant there “for as long as we need”, he added.
“We have brought in a number of upstream projects to make sure that we are able to deliver gas and sustain that for the next 20 to 30 years,” Adif said at the company’s headquarters on the 42nd floor of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. “We are also gearing up to bring in more imports into Peninsular Malaysia.”
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Traditional gas suppliers in Asia are being forced to rethink their export strategies as they try to reconcile rapid economic growth with falling domestic reserves. Malaysia, which was the world’s fifth-largest shipper of the super-chilled fuel last year, usually meets domestic demand by topping up with cargoes from Australia.
Petronas CEO Muhammad Taufik said in June that Malaysia is set to be increasingly dependent on LNG imports in the next five years. In a bid to appease US President Donald Trump and secure a lower tariff from Washington in August, the Asian nation agreed that Petronas would buy US$3.4 billion of US LNG annually.
Malaysia leaning into imports to support its energy needs highlights a broader trend of once hefty producers having to turn to buying the fuel from overseas. Traders are also seeing more opportunity to sell gas to traditional exporters in the future.
