According to its president, Hassan Marican, "The consortium will be a PSC contractor to Petronas [and] it will have to work within the PSC environment because all concessions are held by Petronas." The company has long been the only Malaysian company allowed to drill for oil in the country's territorial waters.

His comments are seen as limiting the opportunity of smaller firms who intended to take part in the consortium who may seen the government's calls for a second consortium as permission to become a rival to Petronas.

However, by being part of PSC, these smaller firms in the consortium can also minimise any of the risks involved in the exploration and development process by sharing the costs with the state-owned giant.

So far, local companies Ranhill Bhd and Crest Petroleum Bhd have said jointly expressed an interest in the project to the Malaysian government. Hassan, though, states that no offers or approaches have been made to Petronas.