BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 29. Southeast Asia is expected to become a hotbed for upstream mergers and acquisitions, with assets worth more than $5 billion, Trend reports via Rystad Energy, independent energy research and business intelligence company from Norway.
"The bulk of these opportunities are in Indonesia, where upwards of $2 billion of assets are on the market, followed by Malaysia and Vietnam which have approximately $1.4 billion and $1 billion for sale respectively," the report said.
According to Rystad Energy, In 2023, deals worth about $700 million have already been concluded in the region, the strongest start to M&A activity in Southeast Asia since 2019.
"Of all the assets up for sale, 74 percent are in the pre-final investment decision (FID) stage, 21 percent already in production, and the remaining 5 percent or so already under development. Combined, they represent some 4 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in resources and around 270,000 boe of daily production with a gas-to-liquids ratio of 63:37, a lucrative proposition for prospective investors," the company said.
At the same time, in terms of the total oil and gas resources available, Indonesia ranks first with a 50-percent share, followed by Malaysia (24 percent) and Vietnam (around 20 percent).
"Given the significant size of resources on offer from Indonesia, it is also the leading country in terms of the total deal value of resources on offer at around $2 billion, followed by Malaysia at around $1.4 billion. Based on recent upstream transactions in Southeast Asia, the average production metric stands at between $17,000 and $20,000 of daily production and between $2 and $3 per boe of resources," the report added.