Malaysia's national oil firm Petronas on Monday said it had signed a deal with oil giants Royal Dutch/Shell and ConocoPhillips to explore and produce offshore natural gas from Sabah state.

Petronas Carigali, the exploration and production arm of Petronas, has a 40 percent stake in the production-sharing contract. Shell Energy Asia and ConocoPhillips Sabah Gas will each have 30 percent interest.

Petronas did not state the total value of the deal or the potential size of the gas reserves.The four gas fields in the Kebabangan Cluster are located about 130 kilometres (81 miles) off the coast of Sabah on Borneo island.

The gas would be transported via pipelines to the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal, which is currently being constructed.