Malaysian businessman T Ananda Krishnan has emerged as a potentially major player in Malaysia's booming oil and gas sector following a disclosure by the head of his energy division that the firm had become "one of the largest acreage holders in Malaysia".

Mr Krishnan, 75 and Malaysia's second wealthiest man with an estimated net worth of US$11.7 billion, appears to have come full circle since he began building his fortune in the early 1970s as an international oil trader.

Oil industry executives say that Pexco, the energy division of his privately held holding company Usaha Tegas firm, had bid for several fields off the coast of Sarawak in competition with international oil companies and had been successful last year. Prior to bidding for the first time in Malaysia last year, Pexco already had oil concessions in Indonesia and Africa.

The businessman's foray into the Malaysian oil and gas sector appears to be timed to ride the wave of investment that Petronas has promised in the domestic oil and gas sector in accordance with Prime Minister Najib Razak's Economic Transformation Programme.

On another level, Mr Krishnan's Pexco could be the first Malaysian firm, apart from Petronas Carigali, to actually enter the upstream oil and gas business in direct competition with the international oil majors. Most Malaysian firms provide specialised offshore oilfield support services but few bid for actual petroleum sharing contracts as most lack the financial muscle to execute it.

The revelations by Sean Guest, Pexco's chief executive, also appear to refute speculation that the reclusive billionaire was preparing to cash out of Malaysia. Over the last year, the businessman had first sold off his international energy assets and then divested his gaming assets, raising over RM10 billion (S$4 billion) in the process. The funds raised may have been channelled towards Pexco: funding upstream oil exploration is hideously expensive.

Even so, the bulk of his businesses remains in Malaysia. They include satellite television via Astro, international offshore oilfield services through Bumi Armada and mobile telephony through Maxis. All three firms are huge and listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

The businessman also has interests in the satellite business (Measat) and entertainment and cinemas (Tanjong): both firms were taken private a few years ago. In addition, his group has property interests in Malaysia as well as other businesses in Australia, the United Kingdom, Africa and elsewhere.

His potential involvement in the upstream oil business of Malaysia, however, only came to light after Pexco chief executive officer Sean Guest posted an update on LinkedIn describing the oil and gas firm as having "one of the largest acreage holders in Malaysia".

According to Mr Guest's post, Pexco's "primary assets" were in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ethiopia. He also noted that Pexco was focused in Australia-Asia and the Indian-ocean rim and has regional offices in these areas. More specifically, he said that Pexco Sarawak had signed four petroleum sharing contracts (PSCs) in Malaysia - presumably with Petronas - covering 25,000 sq kilometres last year.

"Last year in Malaysia, Pexco Sarawak signed four PSCs for the large area west of the prolific Central Luconia Platform where there is more than 35 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas," Mr Guest said in his post. "The area covers almost 25,000 sq km and makes Pexco one of the largest acreage holders in Malaysia.

"This year the company will aggressive acquire more than 3,600 sq km of three-dimensional seismic data in preparation for exploration drilling," he posted.

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