Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) deputy chief executive officer of trade and services promotion Dr Wong Lai Sum said contracts secured by Malaysian companies in countries like Libya will be affected by the unrest, but those with projects in other places in the Middle East are unaffected.
Domestically, she said, the outlook is favourable as projects under the Economic Transformation Programme will generate more businesses for local O&G players throughout the value chain.
"We have companies almost everywhere in the world, so our interest is diversified," Wong told a media roundtable on O&G in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Also present were Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council president Sofiyan Yahya and Matrade director of oil and gas and chemical Abu Bakar Koyakutty.
Wong expects the rising global oil prices to be temporary as the North African countries affected by the uprisings are not major oil exporting nations.
"Bearing in mind that the turmoil is only in Libya, Yemen and Syria, and has not gone into Qatar or Saudi Arabia, the impact (on the global oil price) will be transitional," she said.
If the turmoil continues until year-end, Malaysia's exports will be higher with double-digit growth, she added.
Last year, Malaysia's O&G exports amounted to RM101.2 billion, up 24 per cent from 2009 - a growth attributed mainly to high oil prices. The exports grew at an annual average of 13.5 per cent in the past 10 years.
Wong said concerns over the turmoil in the region that spike global oil prices, would have positive impact on oil exporting countries. But it is otherwise on oil importers.
"Currently, Malaysia is a net oil exporter, so we gain more than we lose," she said.
The O&G sector currently contributes a fifth to the country's gross domestic product.
Matrade is organising several trade missions to new markets, to open up opportunities for over 3,000 local O&G players, including public-listed companies.
Abdul Rahman said for this year, Matrade has six missions to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait as well as the UK, Australia, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Kazakhstan.
These markets have multi-million dollar potential in business for local players.
"Last year, the business potential in Turkmenistan's O&G sector was worth nearly RM1 billion, while in Myanmar, it was RM22 million," he said.
Meanwhile, Sofiyan said local O&G players are of world-class standard and unlike their peers in other sectors, they do not need to upgrade their operations, processes or products in order to go global.
Similarly, Malaysian professionals and experts in the sector are highly sought after all over the world.
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