Eni, Petronas give birth to Southeast Asia’s energy player with $20 billion five-year investment plan

June 9, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Searah, a new 50/50 independent joint venture between Eni and Petronas combining key businesses across Indonesia and Malaysia, has been created as Southeast Asia’s new independent integrated energy company, with a portfolio of 19 gas-producing and development assets.

Searah was established just seven months after the signing of the investment agreement between Eni and Petronas on November 3, 2025, and 16 months after the memorandum of understanding announced in February 2025. The joint venture brings together the complementary portfolios, capabilities, and regional expertise to deliver long-term value creation and operational excellence across Indonesia and Malaysia.

Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, commented: “Searah reflects our proven satellite strategy that aims at building focused, high-quality businesses that can combine scale, efficiency, and growth, and that are driven by our excellence in exploration and project execution, and our continued focus on technology and innovation.

“Searah is a strong new entity in Southeast Asia—the first and largest of its kind in the region—combining our expertise with that of Petronas to support the development of energy resources in Indonesia and Malaysia, with a strong commitment to environmental protection and local growth.”

All required regulatory, governmental, and partner approvals in both Malaysia and Indonesia have now been obtained, and all conditions precedent have been met. The firm’s gas-producing and development portfolio consists of 14 assets in Indonesia and five in Malaysia. The company will start with an initial production base of over 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, aiming to exceed 500,000 boe/d of sustainable production within the next three years.

Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO of Petronas, emphasized: “The establishment of Searah aligns with Petronas’ intensified focus on exercising greater discipline in developing resources coupled with more agile capital deployment as well as stronger emphasis on sustained value creation across the gas value chain.

“Leveraging the complementary portfolios and capabilities of both Petronas and Eni, Searah is envisaged to bring the operational depth, financial resilience and growth capacity of both partners in addressing the region’s growing energy needs reliably and responsibly, even as it contributes towards the long-term security of supply in Indonesia and Malaysia.”

A $6 billion revolving credit facility has been secured, reflecting the strong confidence of the financial markets to fund Searah’s growth plans, which include a pipeline of expected investment for over $20 billion over the next five years to support the development of more than 3 billion boe of discovered resources and unlock multi-billion boe of additional exploration potential.

All members of Eni Indonesia and Petronas Indonesia staff have transitioned to Searah, alongside the establishment of Searah Malaysia, a dedicated entity created to manage Malaysian assets. The launch of the joint venture follows shortly after the final investment decisions (FIDs) for the Gendalo and Gandang fields (South Hub), and Geng North and Gehem fields (North Hub).

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These projects are said to hold nearly 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas initially in place (GIIP) and approximately 550 million barrels of associated condensate, with production expected to start in 2028 and reach a plateau of 2 bscfd of gas and 90,000 bpd of condensate by 2029.

Eni also recently announced the giant Geliga-1 gas discovery in the Ganal block in the Kutei basin, estimated to contain around 5 tcf of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate in place. The well has demonstrated excellent reservoir quality, capable of producing approximately 200 million scfd of gas and 10,000 bpd of condensate.

The establishment of Searah is perceived to support the deployment of capital and resources required to achieve a short-term production target of 500,000 boe/d equity, while advancing further development opportunities stemming from the success of the Geliga exploration well.