In a statement, it also said it is offering six discovered resource opportunities (DRO) clusters and one late-life asset (LLA) cluster.

The launch of Malaysia Bid Round (MBR) 2022 today was attended physically by more than 90 potential investors and over 1,300 potential and existing investors virtually from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region.

Petronas said the 14 exploration blocks on offer are located in prolific areas within the Malay, Sabah and Sarawak basins, with most of the blocks containing existing oil and/or gas discoveries.

The six DRO clusters are mostly in shallow water and are near existing production infrastructure, while the LLA cluster includes three fields.

Petronas is also offering technical study arrangements for two exploration areas in the southern Malay Basin and northwest Sabah Basin to give investors better understanding of the area’s potential.

“Through our basin study work, we believe there are many more prospects to be identified in the Malaysia basins, with the estimated remaining potential of about 21 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BBOE),” said Petronas senior vice-president of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), Mohamed Firouz Asnan.

The national oil company recorded a profit after tax of RM35.2 billion over the first nine months of 2021, more than a 100% increase from the loss after tax of RM19.9 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The improved performance was attributed to higher commodity prices underpinned by the rebound in energy demand as key economies recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.