Non-disclosure agreements signed by Petronas on the request of host countries in its overseas oil exploration ventures may partly explain Malaysia's poor ranking in the Revenue Watch Institute's Resource Governance Index 2013.

NONE This was because disclosure of overseas agreements make up a "big item" in the index, the minister overseeing integrity and good governance, Paul Low ( left in photo ), said today.

"I am not defending (Petronas), but in oil exploration in other countries, it has to sign non-disclosure agreements.

"As a concessionaire, it (Petronas) has to respect the host government's requests and this is one of the minus points that makes the disclosure (standards) not as clear," Low said.

Malaysia ranked 34th among 58 countries, behind the likes of Indonesia, Philippines, Liberia and Ghana in the index launched early this month.

Among others, Malaysia was ranked poorly in terms of transparency and transfer of resource revenue to regional or local governments.

Low, who prior to his cabinet appointment was Transparency International Malaysia president, said that the government will need to look at the ranking in detail to further determine why the country performed so poorly.

He, however, declined to elaborate and asked that the press conference be focused on the topic of deaths in custody.

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