Offshore drilling in Malaysia
Letter from Singapore: Exploring Southeast Asia’s upstream mix
The region’s upstream is not just a space for NOCs
Southeast Asia’s E&P sector has seen an exodus of IOCs over the past decade, while portfolio rationalisation led to them doubling down on core acreage elsewhere. As the IOCs retreated from the region, various NOCs eagerly grabbed most of the discarded producing assets. The NOC share of hydrocarbon production in Southeast Asia is forecast to reach 56pc this year compared with 42pc in 2011, data from consultancy Rystad Energy’s upstream UCube database indicates. Over this same period, the share for the majors will drop from over a third to under a quarter. Vietnam’s NOC share is particularly high, at 78pc. In Indonesia, NOC Pertamina’s trend of taking over expiring contracts, such as the
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
