Explosion occurs at Petronas-operated Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline

An explosion occurred at a portion of the Sabah-Sarawak interstate gas pipeline in Sabah, Malaysia.

A fire and rescue department official said that the situation is now under control, reported Reuters.

The 500km pipeline is operated by state-owned energy company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

The news agency quoted Sarawak state department director Khirudin Drahman as saying: “The explosion is still under investigation. Due to communication problems and the remoteness (of the site), our team was late in relaying information to our system.

“But Petronas’ ERT (emergency response team) brought the explosion and a small fire under control.”

The pipeline transports gas from the Kebabangan gas field in Sabah state to Bintulu in Sarawak, where Petronas operates one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities in the world.

Meanwhile, Malaysian state Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg has promised to legally get the region’s oil and gas back from Petronas.

He said that this addition of oil and gas was part of the then-state Barisan Nasional’s 2016 manifesto.

Datuk noted that the state government has amended and revised the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 (OMO 1958), which gives the regulatory power over oil and gas to the state, reported Malay Mail.

In an interview with the local media, news agency Malay Mail quoted Datuk as saying: “Of course, there are some parties who may not agree, but we will pursue because we believe in the supremacy of our law, particularly our federal and state constitutions.

The chief minister also stressed: “And as you know, based on the provision of the federal and state constitutions, the state government has imposed our sales tax on oil and gas or petroleum products within Sarawak.”

In April 2018, Petronas’ subsidiary Petronas LNG (PLL) transported first liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Petronas LNG Complex in Sarawak to the Posco Gwangyang Terminal in South Korea.