Letter from Singapore: Exploring Southeast Asia’s upstream mix

The region’s upstream is not just a space for NOCs

Southeast Asia’s E&P sector has seen an exodus of IOCs over the past decade, while portfolio rationalisation led to them doubling down on core acreage elsewhere. As the IOCs retreated from the region, various NOCs eagerly grabbed most of the discarded producing assets. The NOC share of hydrocarbon production in Southeast Asia is forecast to reach 56pc this year compared with 42pc in 2011, data from consultancy Rystad Energy’s upstream UCube database indicates. Over this same period, the share for the majors will drop from over a third to under a quarter. Vietnam’s NOC share is particularly high, at 78pc. In Indonesia, NOC Pertamina’s trend of taking over expiring contracts, such as the