This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 17, 2025 - March 23, 2025

FY2013 (ended Jan 31): net profit RM663.78 mil, revenue RM6.91 bil, total liabilities RM8.45 bil

May  Merger of SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd with Kencana Petroleum Bhd. The merged entity takes on debt of almost RM2 billion in bank borrowings for cash payments to shareholders — RM875 million to SapuraCrest shareholders and RM969 million to Kencana Petroleum shareholders.

November  Announces plan to acquire the tender rig business of Seadrill Ltd at an enterprise value of US$2.9 billion.

FY2014: net profit RM1.12 bil, revenue RM8.38 bil, total liabilities RM16.41 bil

June  Sapura Energy and Seadrill joint venture, Sapura Navegação Marítima SA, bag a US$2.7 billion pipe laying contract from Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras).

October  Proposes to acquire Newfield International Holdings Inc’s Malaysian oil and gas assets for US$895 million

FY2015: net profit RM1.43 bil, revenue RM9.94 bil, total liabilities RM22.57 bil

November  Proposes to acquire Petronas Carigali’s Vietnamese assets for US$400 million (aborted in January 2016)

FY2016: net loss RM791.55 mil, revenue RM10.18 bil, total liabilities RM24.28 bil

June  Proposes RM7 billion sukuk

July  Awarded a US$273 million contract by India-based Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd for the Mumbai High South Redevelopment Phase, which entails engineering, procurement, fabrication, transport and installation, hook-up, and commissioning of three new wellhead platforms, around 116km of submarine pipelines, about 7.5km of submarine cable and modification works on existing platforms, among others.

December  SapuraKencana TMC Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sapura Energy, signs a six-year, multi-currency, murabahah term financing facility of up to US$2.1 billion or its equivalent in ringgit with a consortium of Malaysian, regional and international banks

FY2017: net profit RM206.16 mil, revenue RM7.75 bil, total liabilities RM24.37 bil

May  Seadrill Ltd ceases to be a substantial shareholder of Sapura Energy

July  Berantai Risk Service Contract, which was signed with Petronas in January 2011, is mutually ended and Petronas reimburses all outstanding capital and operational expenditures to the contractors by June 2017, and ownership of Berantai FPSO is transferred to Petronas

FY2018: net loss RM2.5 bil, revenue RM5.89 bil, total liabilities RM20.54 bil

November  Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir ceases to be a substantial shareholder of Sapura Energy

FY2019: net profit RM203.67 mil, revenue RM4.57 bil, total liabilities RM19.7 bil

January  Plan to float exploration and production (E&P) business is mooted

March  Makes inroads into New Zealand via a series of farm-in agreements to five offshore exploration permits in the Taranaki Basin, with OMV New Zealand Ltd and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd

March  Sapura Energy and joint-venture partners DEA Deutsche Erdoel Mexico and Premier Oil plc are awarded Block 30 in the Sureste Basin, a proven and prolific hydrocarbon province in the Gulf of Mexico

April  Sapura Energy, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Shell Bhd take final investment decision to develop the Gorek, Larak and Bakong fields as phase one of the SK408 production sharing contract

August  Announces plan to strengthen its core businesses, which may involve the listing of its E&P business and the exploration of a possible strategic partnership for its drilling business, and looks at a proposed rights issue of shares with warrants, as well as a proposed rights issue of Islamic redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS-i)

September  Forays into Australia via a farm-in to three offshore exploration permits held by Finder Exploration Pty Ltd, a private oil and gas company based in West Perth, Australia

September  Sale of 50% of Sapura Upstream Sdn Bhd (formerly Sapura Exploration and Production Sdn Bhd/Newfields) to OMV Aktiengesellschaft for an enterprise value of US$1.6 billion

September  Proposes renounceable rights issue of up to 10 billion new rights shares in Sapura Energy at an issue price of 30 sen, with 998.69 million free warrants, on the basis of five rights shares for every three Sapura Energy shares held and one warrant for every 10 rights shares subscribed. Proposes renounceable rights issue of 2.4 billion new RCPS-i in Sapura Energy at an issue price of 41 sen per RCPS-i on the basis of two RCPS-i for every five Sapura Energy shares held. All in, the exercise raises RM4 billion.

Also seeks exemption for Permodalan Nasional Bhd to undertake a mandatory general offer for shares, warrants and RCPS-i not owned by the fund.

November  Sapura Fabrication Sdn Bhd selected by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) for the long-term agreement programme, which covers engineering, procurement, fabrication, transport and installation contracts, to support Saudi Aramco’s offshore projects

December  Partners Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which was awarded a contract for the Offshore Process Platform (Central Processing Platform & Living Quarters) Project for development of the KG-DWN-98/2 NELP Block from Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd with a value of about RM3 billion

FY2020: net loss RM4.56 bil, revenue RM6.45 bil, total liabilities RM13.57 bil

January  Rights issue completed, warrants and RCPS-i quoted on Bursa Malaysia

FY2021: net loss RM160.25 mil, revenue RM5.35 bil, total liabilities RM13.23 bil

July  Sapura Energy with partners Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia Pty Ltd and OMV New Zealand Ltd have positive discovery in the Toutouwai-1 exploration well in the Taranaki Basin in New Zealand

September  Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin steps down as CEO and the top job is taken over by Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, formerly of Petronas, in March 2021

FY2022: net loss RM9.06 bil, revenue RM4.1 bil, total liabilities RM15.99 bil

March  Sapura TMC draws down US$602 million and RM906 million under a 2021 conventional facility agreement and makes further issuance of sukuk murabahah amounting to RM6.38 billion and US$125 million in nominal value under a multi-currency sukuk programme. The proceeds are utilised for the full settlement of all amounts payable and outstanding by Sapura TMC under a 2014 conventional facility, a 2015 Islamic facility, a 2017 conventional facility and the existing outstanding sukuk murabahah under the multi-currency sukuk programme.

June  Proposes upsizing and revising the terms of the existing multi-currency sukuk programme of up to RM7 billion to RM10 billion established by Sapura TMC.

September  Sapura Energy’s subsidiary and joint venture in engineering and construction awarded contracts with a combined value of about RM942 million and RM1.7 billion respectively.

December  Comes out with a press release stating that it is still a going concern. “Our business segments continue to execute 59 projects globally with all our operating licences with clients remaining intact … We acknowledge that the group is currently facing short-term cash flow and liquidity issues, primarily exacerbated by the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. Sapura Energy has taken and will continue to take decisive actions to resolve the current liquidity issue, including expediting claims and commercial settlements with clients; discussing with vendors; and negotiating with lenders for support through existing working capital facilities.”

FY2023: net loss RM3.17 bil, revenue RM4.55 bil, total liabilities RM15.61 bil

May  Falls into Practice Note 17 category for cash-strapped companies

June  Sapura Energy’s drilling, and engineering and construction business segments, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures, secure six major contract wins in the Asia-Pacific and Atlantic regions, with a combined value of RM2.7 billion.

September  Applies to the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee of Bank Negara Malaysia for assistance in mediation

FY2024: net loss RM518.7 mil, revenue RM4.32 bil, total liabilities RM18.22 bil

June  Sapura Energy’s engineering and construction, drilling, and operations and maintenance business segments secure 10 contract wins across the Asia-Pacific and Atlantic regions between December 2022 and May 2023, valued at RM1.4 billion

April  Proposes to sell the remaining 50% in SapuraOMV Upstream Sdn Bhd to TotalEnergies Holdings SAS for RM3.37 billion

May  Sapura Energy’s joint venture in Brazil wins three-year Petrobras contract of US$1.8 billion for pipe laying support vessels

November  Announces that Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib will step down as CEO in December 2024 and that his role will be taken over by Muhammad Zamri Jusoh

February  Secures RM3.2 billion contract for tender assist drilling rig services from PTTEP Energy Development Ltd

February  Various classes of creditors of Sapura Energy and 22 of its subsidiaries approve the proposed schemes of arrangement and compromise between the scheme companies and their respective scheme creditors as part of its debt restructuring plan

March  Sapura Energy and Ministry of Finance’s Malaysia Development Holding Sdn Bhd enter into a conditional funding agreement with the latter committing to subscribe for an amount of up to RM1.1 billion in nominal value of redeemable convertible loan stocks in Sapura Energy

March The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has opened two investigation papers following information on bribes and misappropriation involving Sapura Energy. The investigations are under the MACC Act 2009 and Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. News reports suggest the investigation is based on an initial probe opened at end-2023 that also involves claims made related to the company. It has been reported that the investigations are focused on money laundering activities and misappropriation related to claims made around 2018 when the company was known as SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, as well as on issues related to governance weaknesses and management shortcomings.  

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