Petronas CCS Ventures (PCCSV), TotalEnergies EP CCS Malaysia and Mitsui and Co announced on Friday, October 23, that they had agreed to form a joint venture to develop a CO2 storage area offshore Peninsular Malaysia.
The storage area forms part of Malaysia's Southern CCS Hub. The agreement provides for the creation of a dedicated company for the venture, which will develop, commercialise and operate the site.
The first phase will focus chiefly on a depleted gas field that can take in up to five million tonnes of CO2 per year. The partners are targeting injection to start as early as 2031, depending on industry readiness. When Petronas secured land at Kuantan Port in Pahang for the hub in 2024, it gave 2029 as the expected first injection date.
The hub is being developed to receive CO2 from domestic and regional sources, including potential cross-border shipments. Petronas has formed a separate joint venture, Jules Nautica, with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and MISC to own the liquefied CO2 carriers that will transport CO2 to storage sites.
Mitsui and seven Japanese companies have also carried out engineering design work, under a Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) programme, for a chain that would capture CO2 in Japan and ship it for storage offshore southern Peninsular Malaysia.
The partners will now advance the project's technical and commercial maturity. PCCSV chief executive Emry Hisham Yusoff said the partners expect to reach a final investment decision (FID) in the near future.
The three companies first agreed to evaluate storage sites in the Malay Basin in 2023.
A key principles agreement in July 2025 paved the way for front-end engineering and design (FEED) and the joint venture structure. In October 2025, PCCSV received Malaysia's first offshore assessment permit for carbon storage, covering the Duyong area.
