Petronas: Malaysia's National Oil Corporation

A single company holds custody of Malaysia’s petroleum resources, oversees the upstream industry that extracts them, and returns a substantial share of the proceeds to the government that wholly owns it.

That company is PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad. It is Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, and it sits at the centre of both the country’s energy sector and its public finances.

Where does PETRONAS get its authority?

PETRONAS was established under the Petroleum Development Act 1974. Malaysia Petroleum Management, PETRONAS’s upstream regulatory arm, describes the company as “vested with the entire ownership, and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring and exploiting … petroleum resources whether onshore or offshore Malaysia.” This is the regulator’s summary of the statute rather than a verbatim quotation of the Act itself.

In practical terms, the oil and gas beneath Malaysian soil and seabed is held by PETRONAS as custodian on the nation’s behalf — not by individual states, landowners or private explorers. Foreign and domestic companies can only produce Malaysian petroleum by contracting with PETRONAS, typically through production sharing contracts.

To keep the roles of resource-owner and regulator organised, upstream oversight sits with Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), which manages the country’s petroleum resources across the full lifecycle of upstream operations on PETRONAS’s behalf. PETRONAS also advises the government on oil and gas policy, regulation and incentives.

What is PETRONAS at a glance?

Field	Detail
Legal name	Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS)
Ownership	Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia
Established	Under the Petroleum Development Act 1974
Legal basis	Petroleum Development Act 1974
Upstream regulator	Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM)
Geographic footprint	Presence in over 100 countries
Core businesses	Upstream; Gas and Maritime; Downstream; Corporate and Others
FY2024 revenue	RM320.0 billion
FY2024 profit after tax	RM55.1 billion
FY2024 total assets	RM766.7 billion

How is PETRONAS’s business organised?

In FY2024 PETRONAS operated three core businesses — Upstream, Gas and Maritime, and Downstream — complemented by a Corporate and Others segment that houses its renewables, hydrogen and green-mobility ventures.

Upstream covers exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in Malaysia and abroad; in 2024 it delivered a record daily average production of 2,451 thousand barrels of oil equivalent. Gas and Maritime handles gas processing, LNG and shipping. Downstream covers refining, petrochemicals, and the marketing and distribution of fuels and chemical products.

Business (FY2024)	Revenue	Profit after tax
Upstream	RM140.0 billion	RM34.9 billion
Gas and Maritime	RM131.1 billion	RM19.9 billion
Downstream	RM153.9 billion	RM1.7 billion*

*Downstream profit after tax is stated excluding the impact of the de-consolidation of the Engen Group, which PETRONAS divested in May 2024; on a reported basis the segment recorded a loss after tax for the year. Segment revenues do not sum to group revenue because of inter-segment eliminations.

Group-wide capital investment reached RM54.2 billion for the year, with more than 60 per cent — about RM33.3 billion — spent inside Malaysia. Upstream absorbed the majority of that spending.

How much does PETRONAS contribute to Malaysia’s finances?

PETRONAS’s role extends well beyond the energy sector into public finance. In 2024 the company contributed RM72.4 billion in dividends, taxes, cash payments and other financial commitments to the Government of Malaysia.

Contribution to government (2024)	Amount
Dividend to the Government	RM32.0 billion
Taxes (petroleum income tax, corporate tax, state sales tax, export duties, etc.)	RM26.8 billion
Cash payments to Federal and State Governments for hydrocarbons monetised	RM13.1 billion
National Trust Fund contribution	RM0.5 billion

PETRONAS remains the sole contributor to the National Trust Fund (Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara), Malaysia’s sovereign savings pool for future generations. The RM32.0 billion dividend is a significant line in the federal budget, and in February 2025 the Second Finance Minister confirmed that PETRONAS’s dividend commitment remained at RM32 billion for the year.

Because a large share of public revenue is linked to one company, PETRONAS’s results move with global energy prices. FY2024 illustrated this: revenue fell 7 per cent and profit after tax fell 32 per cent from FY2023, as average realised prices softened and the Engen divestment reduced earnings. As a major source of federal revenue, the company’s performance therefore affects the government’s income alongside the broader oil and gas cycle.

What’s next

If you are researching Malaysia’s energy economy, the natural follow-ups are the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (the statute behind PETRONAS’s powers), the National Trust Fund (where part of the resource wealth is saved), and the state royalty debates in Sarawak and Sabah, which continue to shape how petroleum revenue is shared. For current numbers, PETRONAS publishes quarterly results and an annual Integrated Report, and the federal budget shows the scale of the PETRONAS dividend in any given year.