Petronas to Explore for Hydrocarbon in Timor Sea

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said it will be exploring for hydrocarbon with three partners in the joint petroleum development area between Timor Leste and Australia. Petronas holds half of the production sharing contract while the remaining is shared between Korea Gas (30 per cent), Samsung (10 per cent) and LG International (10 per cent), it said in a statement yesterday. The minimum investment for the exploration activities is $40.5m. The deal marks Petronas' entry into the Timor Leste/Australia's upstream sector. In another development, China's carmaker Nanjing Automobile Corp (NAC) and Brilliant Culture Group Ltd (BCG) will jointly manufacture Petronas' E01 engine for NAC's new cars while Petronas will provide the technology and support to the former. BCG is NAC's consulting firm. The project is slated to take off in December. Production is expected to commence in 2009, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 units. The parties are exploring the possibility of establishing an engine research and development centre in China. Source: Business Times