The Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

With the discovery of commercially viable quantities of oil in 1929, the economy of Brunei became closely linked to the global oil market and to external sources for the exploration, processing and disposal of its chief revenue earner. In the early 1990s, Brunei was the third largest producer of oil and natural gas in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Malaysia; the country is ranked fourteenth in world production of oil and fourth in production of natural gas. This chapter outlines the development of the industry, patterns of production and the frameworks governing production, pricing and royalty arrangements. A final section considers the nature and extent of linkages between the hydrocarbon sector and the national economy.