KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Malaysia’s state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, said today a fire on the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline in East Malaysia was under control.
“Petronas confirms that a pipe rupture and a fire incident have occurred at the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline,” the company said in a statement.
The incident occurred in the early hours of today, it said, adding no injuries were reported.
Petronas operates the 500-kilometre-long pipeline that runs across the two east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.
It is not clear if the company halted operations of the pipeline, which carries gas from the Kebabangan field in Sabah state to Bintulu in Sarawak where Petronas operates one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities.
Petronas is the sole manager of Malaysia’s oil and gas reserves. The country is the world’s third-biggest LNG exporter after Qatar and Australia.
Earlier, a fire and rescue department official told Reuters authorities were investigating the blaze.
“The explosion is still under investigation,” Sarawak state department director Khirudin Drahman told Reuters.
“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,”
Petronas last shut down the pipeline in May for maintenance. — Reuters
