Energy giants Eni and PETRONAS have officially launched Searah, a 50/50 joint venture designed to become South-East Asia’s leading independent integrated energy company. This marks a major consolidation of upstream oil and gas assets across Indonesia and Malaysia.
The deal comes just seven months after the Investment Agreement was signed on November 3, 2025, and 16 months after the initial Memorandum of Understanding in February 2025—an unusually rapid timeline for a project of this scale.
Searah combines 19 gas-producing and development assets—14 in Indonesia and five in Malaysia—and enters the market with an initial production base exceeding 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). The company is targeting more than 500,000 boe/d of sustainable production within three years.
All regulatory and governmental approvals in both countries have been secured, with all conditions precedent now satisfied, clearing the way for immediate operations.
Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said: “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."
Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO of PETRONAS, said: “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."
Financial backing for the venture is substantial. A US$6 billion revolving credit facility has already been secured, supporting a projected investment programme exceeding US$20 billion over the next five years. These funds will be used to develop more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in discovered resources and unlock further multi-billion-barrel exploration potential.
The partners say Searah will operate with aligned environmental and sustainability goals, aiming to improve efficiency while supporting economic development and local employment in both countries. The structure is expected to generate major synergies, particularly in logistics and technology.
Leadership has been drawn from both companies, with all Eni Indonesia and PETRONAS Indonesia staff transferred into the new entity. A dedicated Malaysian arm, Searah Malaysia Sdn Bhd, has also been established to manage assets in Malaysia.
First production is expected in 2028, with output projected to reach 2 billion cubic feet per day of gas and 90,000 barrels per day of condensate by 2029.
It also builds on Eni’s recent Geliga-1 gas discovery in Indonesia’s Ganal block, estimated to contain around 5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate. The well has already shown strong production potential of roughly 200 million cubic feet per day of gas and 10,000 barrels per day of condensate.
The creation of Searah marks what both companies describe as a new phase in their long-standing presence in Southeast Asia’s energy sector.
