PETRONAS, the acronym for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, was incorporated on 17 August 1974 under the Companies Act 1965. It is wholly-owned by the Malaysian government and is vested with the entire ownership and control of the petroleum resources in Malaysia through the Petroleum Development Act 1974, an Act of Parliament.

Over the years, PETRONAS has grown to become a fully-integrated oil and gas corporation and is ranked among FORTUNE Global 500's largest corporations in the world. PETRONAS has four subsidiaries listed on the Bursa Malaysia and has ventured globally into more than 30 countries worldwide in its aspiration to become a leading oil and gas multinational of choice.

Since its inception, PETRONAS' business has grown to encompass the full spectrum of oil and gas operations, both locally and globally, in the areas of upstream oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas (LNG); petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; and property investment.

Refining Activities

Oil, in its crude form, has very few direct applications. To enhance its usage, crude oil first has to be processed or refined into many value-added petroleum products.

PETRONAS refines a wide range of petroleum products for domestic consumption as well as for export, including motor gasoline, diesel, lubricants, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha and residual fuel oil. Its refining activities are undertaken by two refineries with a current combined capacity of 256,500 barrels per day (bpd).

Apart from PETRONAS' refineries, there are two other refineries owned and operated respectively by Shell and Exxon Mobil. The country's combined refining capacity now stands at 546,500 bpd.