Malaysia has awarded its first offshore assessment permit for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to a wholly-owned unit of state-owned oil and gas major Petronas, marking a key advance in the nation’s low-carbon energy transition.
On Monday, Petronas CCS Ventures (PCCSV) received exclusive rights from the Malaysia Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Agency (MyCCUS) to conduct geological assessments offshore the Duyong field, located off Peninsular Malaysia.
The permit is the first issued under the recently enacted Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Act (CCUS Act 2025), which took effect October 1.
Relevant: Malaysia Enacts CCUS Act 2025 With Royal Endorsement
The achievement signals a major step toward positioning Malaysia as a regional leader in CCS infrastructure and cross-border carbon management.
PCCSV has teamed up with TotalEnergies and Mitsui & Co. under a Key Principles Agreement (KPA) from July 2025 to advance technical studies of Duyong as part of the so-called Southern CCS offshore hub.
Emry Hisham Yusoff, chief executive of PCCSV, said the permit marked a major step toward developing Duyong into a safe, commercially viable carbon storage site, enabling them to proceed with the necessary studies.
The partners intend to move to the front-end engineering design (FEED) phase, paving the way for “the first-of-its-kind integrated CCS solution for industries in the Asia Pacific region.”
The assessment work will comply with the CCUS Act and its related regulations, including the Offshore Permit and Licensing Regulations 2025.
The initiative underscores Petronas’ broader push to offer decarbonization options, with the longer-term goal of supporting its net-zero ambitions in the region.
Read more: Petronas CEO Sees Carbon Capture As Future Revenue Stream
