Introduction

Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, is a national oil company (NOC) that strives to operate like an international oil company (IOC). Although the company has had great success, its never-ending tightrope walk of balancing enterprise and politics is generating increasing strains, undermining the corporation’s efforts to firmly establish itself as a serious player among second-echelon oil majors.

Starting off as the sole regulator and manager of the country’s oil and gas sectors in the early 1970s, Petronas is today a fully integrated oil and gas multinational with interests in more than thirty countries. Consider these numbers: Its international operations contributed to roughly 40 percent of income in 2008 and emerged as the single largest contributor to group revenue. By 2013, more than 60 percent of its oil and gas reserves are projected to be in the form of deposits outside Malaysia.