Central & SE Asia / Australasia
Country profile: Malaysia
| Location: | Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam |
| Climate: | tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons |
| Terrain: | coastal plains rising to hills and mountains |
| Size: | 329750 sq. km total (Land area: 328550 sq. km Water area: 1200 sq.km) |
| Population: | 25,274,133 (July 2008 est.) |
| Languages: | Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai |
| Government: | constitutional monarchy |
| Capital city: | Kuala Lumpur |
| Legal system: | based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation; Islamic law is applied to Muslims in matters of family law and religion; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Currency: | ringgit (MYR) |
| Licensing: |
Country profile
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation.
The first several years of the country's history were marred by a Communist insurgency, Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.
Energy production and consumption
| Oil | Gas | |
| Production: | 751,800 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 60 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Consumption: | 501,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 31 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Exports: | 611,200 bbl/day (2004 est.) | 29 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Imports: | 278,600 bbl/day (2004 est.) | |
| Reserves: | 3 billion bbl (2007 est.) | 2 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Major fields: |
Malaysia - recent news
| 07 Jan 26 |
Malaysia: Viridien launches major multi-client reimaging program in Malaysia Viridien has announced a new basin-scale reimaging program within the hydrocarbon-prolific Balingian-Luconia-Baram basins, in collaboration with PETRONAS, through Malaysia Petroleum Management. |
| 02 Jan 26 |
Malaysia: PETRONAS strengthens LNG partnership with CNOOC through supply agreement PETRONAS has entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore Trading & Marketing for the supply of 1.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas (LNG). |
| 16 Dec 25 |
Malaysia: TotalEnergies signs new Renewable Power Agreement with Google to supply data centers TotalEnergies and Google have signed a 21-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to supply Google with a total volume of 1 TWh (equivalent to 20 MW) of certified renewable power from the Citra Energies solar plant in the northern Kedah province. |
| 27 Nov 25 |
Malaysia: Shearwater awarded OBN contract for Shell-operated field off the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia Shearwater Geoservices has been awarded a contract by Sabah Shell Petroleum Company for an ocean bottom node (OBN) 4D seismic survey at its operated field off the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia. The two-month project will be carried out in early 2026 using the unique SW Tasman, designed to perform both node deployment and seismic source operations. |
| 13 Nov 25 |
Malaysia: Petros signs three strategic energy agreements with international industry players Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) has signed two strategic energy agreements and a storage study agreement with international industry players to unlock Sarawak’s onshore exploration potentials through targeted programmes, and to progress Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) projects in Central Luconia, Sarawak. |
Malaysia - more news
Other countries in this region
- Australia,
- Bangladesh,
- Brunei,
- Cambodia,
- China,
- Fiji,
- Hong Kong,
- India,
- Indonesia,
- Japan,
- Laos,
- Maldives,
- Mongolia,
- Myanmar,
- Nepal,
- New Zealand,
- North Korea,
- Pakistan,
- Palau,
- Papua New Guinea,
- Philippines,
- Singapore,
- South Korea,
- Sri Lanka,
- Taiwan,
- Thailand,
- Timor Leste,
- Vietnam
