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
| 18 Oct 25 |
Malaysia: RINA awarded FEED contract for PETRONAS' flagship CCS project in Malaysia Awarded following the successful execution of pre-FEED services in 2024, the FEED contract entrusts RINA with advancing engineering for the Southern onshore CO2 receiving terminal in Peninsular Malaysia. |
| 13 Oct 25 |
Malaysia: Seascape Energy JV partners approve drilling of the Kertang Prospect Seascape Energy, an E&P company focused on Southeast Asia, has announced that the joint venture partners in Deepwater Block 2A PSC located off the coast of Sarawak, offshore Malaysia, have approved entry into the second exploration phase of the PSC and drilling of the giant Kertang prospect, subject to Petronas MPM formal approval. |
| 14 Sep 25 |
Malaysia: PETRONAS delivers Malaysia's first locally blended SAF, marking breakthrough in Aviation Decarbonisation PETRONAS has successfully delivered Malaysia’s first blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to KL International Airport (KLIA) for the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), establishing PETRONAS’ in-house capability and readiness to provide continuous, scalable supply in Malaysia. |
| 09 Sep 25 |
Malaysia: McDermott awarded deepwater subsea contract by PTTEP in Malaysia McDermott has been awarded a large* offshore subsea contract by PTTEP Sabah Oil Limited (PTTEP) for the Block H gas field expansion project, located offshore Sabah, in East Malaysia covering the Alum, Bemban and Permai deepwater fields. |
| 28 Aug 25 |
Malaysia: PXGEO wins two-year geophysical contract to support Malaysia upstream activities PXGEO has secured its first contract in Malaysia to deliver offshore seismic data acquisition services under a two-year agreement. This includes a minimum commitment of 365 days of acquisition activity over the contract term utilizing the PXGEO 2 seismic vessel which will mobilize this month (August). |
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
