Insights

Strategic Insights

Free Briefing

Malaysia Gas Market Reform: A Leadership Briefing

Get the Briefing
Gas Market & Policy

A Tiered Fuel Adjustment Changes Who Carries the Risk

Tiering cannot make the underlying fuel cost disappear. It changes who pays, how much they pay and when the cost appears. Every ringgit still needs an accountable home.

2026-11-022 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

The ASEAN Power Grid: How Malaysia Can Capture Value?

Conditional approval for 1.3 GW from Vietnam and Malaysia to Singapore is an important step. The cable connects markets. The architecture determines who captures the value.

2026-10-292 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Why Gas Curtailment Next Door Matters to Malaysia

A pipeline provides physical connectivity. It does not guarantee that gas will always remain available for export. The Indonesian curtailment may be small, the lesson is not.

2026-10-262 min read
Career & Reflections

Not Every Contribution Looks the Same

Contributing to a responsibility is not necessarily the same as carrying its burden. A reflection from Umrah with my mother on fairness, in families and in organisations.

2026-10-243 min read
Governance & Public Trust

Accountability Begins With Control: The RACI Framework

"Who should be accountable for the whole system?" My response was another question. "Who is actually in control?" Accountability should be aligned with authority.

2026-10-132 min read
Governance & Public Trust

From Strategy to Execution: The 5M Framework

Developing a strategy is often easier than translating it into something that can actually be implemented. How Market, Method, Machinery, Manpower and Money help.

2026-10-122 min read
Gas Market & Policy

RFP for Malaysia Power Study

Over lunch, a friend asked what I would suggest for the post-GFA study. Start by understanding the system, then ask who is actually in control.

2026-10-112 min read
Gas Market & Policy

CRESS Has Momentum. Delivery of Green Energy Still Got Option.

Registered capacity is not yet capacity under construction. Why CRESS projects should be tracked through clear milestones, and what other routes to green energy may offer.

2026-10-062 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Renewable Energy Does Not Have to Remain as Electricity

We can turn electrons into molecules. Perhaps the next chapter of our energy transition is about understanding what those electrons can become.

2026-09-302 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

The Next Phase of Malaysia's Data Centre Story Is on Capability

The next question is not simply how many data centres Malaysia can attract. It is how much lasting capability Malaysia can build around them.

2026-09-252 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Positioning Malaysia as Green Energy Hub

After a hectic week in London, one theme kept coming back. Malaysia has an opportunity to position itself as a regional green energy hub, if demand, technology, infrastructure and capital can be connected.

2026-09-182 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Electricity Bills: Who Pays for Growth?

Beyond the tariff debate is a bigger question. When a very large new load triggers additional infrastructure, how much of that cost should be borne by the party creating it?

2026-09-152 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

From the Slopes of Gunung Jerai, a New Gas Gateway

Looking across Yan towards Pulau Bunting from Gunung Jerai, a quiet landscape could become part of Malaysia's next chapter in energy infrastructure.

2026-09-081 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

A 1.5 GW Data Centre Is Not Just a Data Centre Investment

Up to 1.5 GW of on-site generation for one data centre development is almost equivalent to the peak demand of an entire state. At this scale, it is an energy-system commitment.

2026-09-062 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Data Centres: When 44% Becomes a National Planning Signal

Nearly RM1 in every RM2 of Malaysia's approved investment in the first half of 2026 came from data centres and cloud computing. That is more than an investment headline.

2026-09-022 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Data Centres: The Cost Begins Before Consumption

A data centre may consume electricity only after it opens. The power system begins spending much earlier. Who carries that risk if the demand does not arrive?

2026-08-242 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

A Light Sunday Reflection on Malaysia Energy Transition

Having the ingredients does not always mean the whole system is ready. A reflection on where energy transition promises meet system capability.

2026-08-232 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Malaysia's Cheapest New Source of Energy

Malaysia may have just announced its cheapest new source of energy. It is not gas, solar, hydro or nuclear. It is the energy we no longer need to consume.

2026-08-172 min read
Gas Market & Policy

What I Hope ERI 2026 Will Achieve

Seven areas I hope Energy Regulatory Insight 2026 will give attention to, from energy security and regulatory clarity to letting execution be the real measure.

2026-08-092 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Malaysia's Data Centre Opportunity Calls for Better Infrastructure Thinking

Infrastructure often determines the ceiling of economic growth. Beyond how many data centres Malaysia can build, how much supporting infrastructure can it sustain?

2026-08-072 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Most People See a Gas Pipeline. We Saw a Digital Corridor.

In 2023, management asked a simple question: how do we create more value from an asset we already own? Not another pipeline, not more throughput, but the PGU Right-of-Way seen through an entirely different lens. That journey became LinkaranFibre.

2026-08-032 min read
Career & Reflections

28 Years, Two Dates, One Journey

Today is my last working day at PETRONAS. I joined on 1 August 1998. Two dates, separated by 28 years, and one lesson that stayed constant throughout: nothing meaningful is delivered by one person alone.

2026-07-312 min read
Career & Reflections

Fish Head Curry, Tanah Melayu and the Table We Share

A lunch with former PETRONAS colleagues, and a reflection on why the term Tanah Melayu so quickly invites accusations of racism. Citizenship does not require identical histories. Unity does not require amnesia.

2026-07-302 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

A Data Centre Is Not Just a Digital Project. It Is an Energy System.

MIDA reports roughly 4.6 GW of data-centre capacity planned or under construction in Malaysia. To the electricity system, that is a large, concentrated and round-the-clock source of demand. The question is not how many data centres Malaysia can attract, but what energy architecture must be built so digital growth strengthens the national energy system.

2026-07-292 min read
Governance & Public Trust

When Decisions Never Leave The Meeting Room

KWAP's RM163.4 million exposure to eFishery is not merely a private venture-capital loss. It is a reminder that a system cannot be redesigned only by those who understand policy papers, legal structures and financial models. The people who have operated it must also be in the room.

2026-07-282 min read
Governance & Public Trust

Investment Needs Openness. Sovereignty Needs Boundaries.

The revocation of Network School's licence in Forest City is more than an isolated enforcement case. It is a reminder that not every investment challenge is an investment problem. Sometimes it is a governance problem, and strong enforcement strengthens investor confidence rather than weakening it.

2026-07-272 min read
Gas Market & Policy

What TNB's Latest RFI Tells Us About Malaysia's Gas Market

TNB's Request for Information on its gas supply value chain strategy looks like a procurement exercise. Read closely, it is a systems-thinking exercise about where TNB should position itself as Malaysia's gas market enters structural transition.

2026-07-212 min read
Career & Reflections

Two Countries, Similar Gas Discoveries, Very Different Outcomes

Malaysia and Tanzania entered the natural gas era at roughly the same time, with comparable resource bases. Four decades on, their development trajectories look remarkably different — a reminder that natural resources do not automatically create prosperity. Systems and ecosystems do.

2026-07-172 min read
Career & Reflections

A Gas Master Plan Is Not a Pipeline Plan

In 2014, I represented PETRONAS as a gas subject-matter expert in Tanzania's Big Results Now! programme, helping develop the country's Gas Master Plan. The lesson that stayed with me: a gas molecule has little economic value until an entire system enables it to reach productive demand.

2026-07-162 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Malaysia's First TPA Gas Shipper

A first-hand account of standing up PETRONAS Energy & Gas Trading (PEGT) as Malaysia's first licensed Gas Shipper — and what Third Party Access really means for competition in the gas market.

2026-07-142 min read
Gas Market & Policy

From Gas TPA to Electricity TPA: Understanding CRESS

Malaysia is extending the Third Party Access philosophy from gas pipelines to the national electricity grid through CRESS. Here is what that actually means when electricity, unlike gas, cannot be physically traced from one generator to one customer.

2026-07-122 min read
Gas Market & Policy

AQPS: The Quiet Innovation Inside Malaysia's Gas Framework Agreement

The Allocated Quantity to the Power Sector (AQPS) under Malaysia's Gas Framework Agreement solves a problem far bigger than gas nominations: how to manage demand uncertainty without eliminating commercial accountability.

2026-07-112 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Regasification and the New Complexity of Gas-to-Power

As Malaysia adds new LNG regasification terminals in Lumut and Yan, gas-to-power is shifting from domestic dominance to a more LNG-dependent future — and that shift demands system-level thinking, not just contract-level fixes.

2026-07-102 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Everybody Wants A Solution For Post-GFA

A friend asked for a proposal to fix the post-GFA gas-to-power puzzle. The honest answer: post-GFA is a system issue, not a single-party one, and it needs system design, not just contract design.

2026-07-092 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Third Party Access and the Discipline of Open Infrastructure

Third Party Access opened Malaysia's gas infrastructure to competition. But in the post-GFA era, open access without system discipline can turn a supply disruption into a system security issue.

2026-07-082 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Post-GFA: The Single Buyer and the Discipline of System Thinking

The Single Buyer may not be visible to the public, but as Malaysia enters a more LNG-exposed, more market-based post-GFA era, its role as the place where the whole system view is organised becomes even more strategic.

2026-07-072 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

The Other Control Room Behind the Light

If PGCC watches the gas system, the Grid System Operator watches the power system. The trust between the two control rooms — solve the system problem first, settle the commercial details later — cannot be fully written into a contract.

2026-07-062 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

The Pipeline Behind the Power Generation

Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) is more than steel pipes on a map. It is the backbone connecting gas processing, power plants, petrochemical plants and industries — and why post-GFA cannot be discussed without talking about deliverability.

2026-07-053 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Power Plants Are No Longer Just About Megawatts

A question from Malaysia's first gas-fired power generation in Paka — which had to start first, the gas processing plant or the gas generator? — and why in the post-GFA era, a power plant is a fuel strategy, not just an engineering project.

2026-07-042 min read
Energy Systems & Infrastructure

Design the System, Not Just the Agreement

The question is no longer just who should supply gas to the power sector — it is how the entire gas-to-power system should be designed. Six design principles for a post-GFA framework that reflects how the ecosystem actually behaves.

2026-07-032 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Order Amidst Complexity: The Background Behind the GFA

Gas supply to the power sector sounds straightforward, but it is a highly connected system of commercial contracts, government policy, regulated pricing, dispatch and consumer affordability. This is the background that made the Gas Framework Agreement important.

2026-07-022 min read
Career & Reflections

Why I Write About Gas Supply: It Feels Personal

Most people never think about gas supply when the light comes on. A personal reflection on why the post-GFA discussion matters — not as an industry issue, but as the quiet confidence behind ordinary, everyday moments.

2026-07-013 min read
Gas Market & Policy

Consultation Paper on Gas Supply to the Power Sector Post-GFA

More than ten years ago, I was involved in negotiating the Gas Framework Agreement between PETRONAS and TNB. As the post-GFA consultation period closes, a reflection on what the next mechanism must get right — and how AI and agentic systems could help.

2026-07-012 min read