The agreements follow a five-day visit to the UAE by the King of Malaysia, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, last December.

Under the MoU with ADNOC, both companies will explore opportunities to collaborate across the full oil and gas value chain in Abu Dhabi. The scope covers potential research and development and technology cooperation in enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, carbon capture, utilization and storage, gas sustainability, specialty chemicals, unconventional resources and hydrogen technologies.

Downstream, Petronas and ADNOC will also look to trade together, including in the supply of crude oil and feedstock, and the offtake of refined products.

Among the opportunities in Abu Dhabi is Ta’ziz, a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ, which plans to invest more than $5 billion in seven chemical anchor projects in the Ruwais Derivatives Park. The first phase of the development will include plants to produce chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride, maleic anhydride, methanol, ammonia, isopropyl alcohol and elastomers.

Several design and engineering contracts were due to be awarded early this year, with initial production scheduled for 2025.

“We are very pleased to partner with Petronas for the first time through this important framework agreement,” said UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC managing director and Group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. “The agreement is a natural evolution of the strong ties between the UAE and Malaysia and provides an opportunity to deepen the relationship through strategic energy cooperation.”

The agreement between Petronas and Masdar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based private equity group Mubadala Investment, will see the companies work on clean energy projects across Asia and the Middle East, covering renewable energy and green hydrogen.

Both parties will explore joint participation in large-scale solar and wind opportunities for utilities, commercial and industrial customers, focusing primarily in Asia. Petronas said the collaboration with Masdar will complement its growing renewables portfolio, which currently has over 1GW of solar capacity in operation and under development in India and Southeast Asia.

Petronas president and Group CEO Tengku Taufik said the agreement with Masdar “marks another milestone in our existing partnership with Mubadala.” He added: “We look forward to powering more businesses with cleaner energy solutions, leveraging on our respective geographical and technological strengths to bring more sustainable energy projects to fruition.”

Last November, Petronas declared a commitment towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist