KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 13): Dialog Group Bhd is actively looking to acquire Malaysian brownfield oil and gas (O&G) assets to grow the company's upstream business to account for at least one-third of the O&G support services provider's net profit from 20% currently.

Dialog executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat told reporters after the group's annual general meeting here today that now is a good time for asset acquisitions given lower crude oil prices.

Also, a balanced contribution from all three segments — upstream, midstream, and downstream — allows the group to better hedge against the volatile O&G market, Ngau said.

He said Dialog's midstream and downstream businesses currently contribute about 40% each to the group's bottom line.

"There will be quite a lot [of assets] up for sale as oil majors move back to the US. Here, [although] the old fields are not so interesting [to them], they appear very interesting to us.

"We are actively looking, but nothing is definite yet. We will announce when we are sure," Ngau said.

On Exxon Mobil Corp's proposed sale of its upstream offshore O&G assets in Malaysia, Ngau said Dialog has looked into it but no decision has been made so far.

"We are just looking at it. But they are big, we are not sure whether we are qualified to buy by ourselves.

"If anything, we may join (partner) with others. But at the moment, we have not decided," he said.

Last month, Bloomberg, quoting people with knowledge on Exxon Mobil's proposed O&G asset sale, reported that Exxon Mobil is considering a sale of its Malaysian upstream offshore assets as the US energy giant continues with its divestiture programme.

It was reported that the company is working with an adviser on the potential sale of the Malaysian assets, which could raise about US$2 billion (about RM8.31 billion) to US$3 billion.

At Bursa Malaysia's afternoon break today, Dialog's share price settled one sen or 0.29% lower at RM3.46 at 12:30pm for a market capitalisation of RM19.57 billion.

In crude oil markets, Reuters reported that Brent crude futures edged down 18 cents or 0.3% to US$61.88 a barrel by 0411 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at US$56.67, down 13 cents or 0.2%.