Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas said on Friday it has shut down pipelines at an oil platform off the country’s east coast after finding an oil sheen near facilities it shared with other contractors.
The facilities are operated by Petronas Carigali – the company’s exploration arm – and its production-sharing contractors Exxon Mobil, Production Malaysia Inc. and Newfield Peninsular Malaysia Inc., Reuters reported.
“The contractors have cleaned up the majority of the sheen and are now monitoring the situation via aerial and marine surveillance,” Petronas said in a statement.
“At the same time, efforts are on-going to identify the source of the sheen, using remotely operated underwater vehicle as well as subsea pipeline tests.”
Petronas did not specify which oilfields were affected.
Several oil and gas fields including Tapis, Seligi, Guntong, Semangkok, Irong Barat, Tabu and Palas are situated off Malaysia’s east coast.
Emergency response and oil spill teams such as the Petroleum Industry of Malaysia Mutual Aid Group and East Asia Response Ltd. also went to the area, Petronas said.
Last week, Petronas said Malaysia’s crude oil output had fallen 3.3% to 535,000 bpd in financial year ended March 2010 as ageing fields took their toll after years of steady production.
