PETRONAS to go on with oil and gas exploration amid overlapping claims by China, says Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: PETRONAS will continue with its oil and gas operations in the South China Sea despite overlapping claims by China, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"The issue in the South China Sea was raised by both sides, particularly China, as PETRONAS has started large scale operations in an area claimed by that country.

"I raised this with (China's) Premier Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping as we consider it Malaysian territory.

"As such, PETRONAS will continue with exploration in the area," the Prime Minister said in reply to a supplementary question by Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru) in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (April 4).

PETRONAS has one of its biggest oil platforms in the South China Sea.

While Anwar did not name the specific area being contested, he was most likely referring to tensions revolving around the development of the Kasawari gas field in Block SK316, off Sarawak.

PETRONAS Carigali, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national oil company, is the developer and operator of the Kasawari gas field.

Discovered in 2011, Kasawari has been under development for several years, and is estimated to hold about three trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas resources.

Scheduled to come on-stream this year, Kasawari is expected to produce up to 900 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Over the past few years, Beijing has been persistent in challenging its neighbours’ oil and gas activities within their own exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.

The nine-dash line area claimed by China covers a large swathe of the South China Sea which overlaps with the exclusive economic zones claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Anwar reiterated Malaysia's openness to talks with China over the overlapping claims.

"We cannot avoid negotiations as Asean feels that all overlapping claims must be resolved through negotiation.

"But for the time being, Malaysia is firm that the area is our territory," he said.

On the presence of Chinese vessels in the contested area, Anwar said China claimed they were in international waters.

However, he added that Wisma Putra would monitor the situation and issue a protest note to China if there was encroachment.