GLNG: Petronas declares force majeure on Malaysian LNG exports

Malaysia’s Petronas has declared a force majeure on supplies from its Malaysian LNG facility following a pipe leak, the company said last week, further exacerbating global supply constraints.

The leak was caused by a soil movement at the Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline on September 21. “This has impacted the supply of gas to MLNG Dua’s production facility at Petronas LNG Complex (PLC) in Bintulu, Sarawak,” Petronas said, adding that the force majeure only affected the MLNG facility. “The other LNG production facilities within the PLC continue to operate as planned.”

Petronas did not say how much supply would be affected, nor how long the disruption would continue. However, MLNG Dua has three trains with a total liquefaction capacity of 9.6mn tonnes per year (tpy).

Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. said earlier this month that Malaysia LNG, majority-owned by Petronas, had reported a force majeure on LNG supplies to its customers. Besides Mitsubishi, MLNG Dua’s customers include Eneos, Jera, Sendai City Gas, Shizuoka Gas, Tohoku Electric and Tokyo Gas, according to GIIGNL data.

In its statement, Petronas said that the pipeline leak had had an impact on delivery commitments under its contracts, and that it was in discussions to “identify suitable mitigation efforts.”