ABSTRACT
Malaysia, the Philippines, and Egypt employ production-sharing contract (PSCs), but there are substantial differences in the contract provisions and in their fiscal implications. The Petroleum Development Act of 1974 established a national petroleum company, Petronas, and required the conversion of existing concessions to either production-sharing or joint-venture agreements with Petronas. In the 1968-69 period, the Malaysian government granted provisional exploration concessions to Exxon, Continental Oil, Southeast Asia Gulf, Mobil Oil Malaysian, and Amoco Malaysian Petroleum. The Philippine Petroleum Act of 1949 proclaimed state ownership of all deposits of petroleum or natural gas, with private exploration and exploitation permitted on the basis of more or less standard concession contracts and remuneration to the government based mainly on a royalty of 12.5 percent. A number of concessions were granted and by 1964 over 250 exploratory wells had been drilled with no commercial discoveries.
