Petronas refutes allegation of oil rigs shutdown

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) today refuted allegations that it has shut down any of its rigs, offshore Malaysia, other than those concluding their drilling campaigns or currently under temporary suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To-date, 18 of its rigs are in operation within Malaysian waters.

The national oil company said this in a statement today in response to a news report on Friday, alleging the deactivation of 14 Petronas oil rigs and the shutting down of 14 projects.

"Petronas also wishes to clarify that there was temporary suspension of projects at some worksites due to the movement control order (MCO) implemented by the government.

"Currently, most of these projects have either resumed their work activities or will be resuming soon upon securing the necessary approval from the government," it said.

Petronas added that it is striving to minimise the pandemic's impact to its planned domestic capital expenditure (CAPEX) programme.

"However, we do expect that some projects will naturally be delayed due to the prolonged lockdowns implemented globally and the MCO in Malaysia, and further anticipated disruptions to the global supply chain," it added.

-- BERNAMA