Mohamed Hassan Marican

President and CEO, Petroliam Nasional Berhad

Date of Birth: 18/10/1952
Place of Birth: Sungai Petani

When he took over as Chief Executive of Malaysia’s Petronas in 1995, Mohamed Hassan Marican promised he would transform the state-owned oil company into a major international player. Within ten years, he said, 30% of the company’s revenues would come from overseas. Africa has been central to that strategy: the company’s biggest foreign investment is in Sudan. Petronas’s cooperation with the Khartoum regime has attracted as much criticism as China’s. Unlike China, however, Malaysia has not tried to appease its critics by intervening in Sudan’s many conflicts.

A trained accountant, Marican joined Petronas in 1989, where he rose to become senior Vice-President. As Chief Executive, his first big foreign moves came in 1996, when Petronas bought a 30% stake in a Total SA project in Iran and a 30% stake (later increased to 80%) in South Africa’s Engen. Petronas now has worldwide operations that include some 16 African countries. This year will mark the company’s tenth year of operation in Sudan.

Petronas, owned by Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance, does not make its financial statements public. Although it is regarded as an efficient company, many are troubled by its lack of transparency. It has also been vulnerable to some political pressure on its investments. In 1998, it bought KPB, an ailing shipping company owned by Mirzan Mahathir, son of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and in 2000 it took a controlling stake in Proton, a money-losing Malaysian auto manufacturer. International expansion is sure to continue as Malaysia’s local petroleum reserves are shrinking: the government expects it will become a net importer of oil by 2011.