Reuters examines the differing fortunes of the Indonesian and Malaysian state oil companies

Reuters examined Malaysian state oil company Petronas and its Indonesian counterpart Pertamina as they both try to cope with dwindling crude output in their countries and a surge in demand. Their fortunes have markedly diverged because Malaysia has allowed Petronas to follow its own growth path, while Pertamina has been hobbled by Indonesian government intervention and bears the burden of a subsidy program, experts and officials told Reuters. While Petronas is building a state-of-the-art petrochemical complex near Singapore, Pertamina’s capital expenditures are falling.