Petronas to launch new automotive fuel

Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB) expects to launch its new automotive fuel next month.

PDB retail business division senior general manager Izuddin Husaini Mohd Yusoff said he expects an encouraging response to the fuel, which will be available at all Petronas gas station outlets nationwide.

Izuddin Husaini said the fuel was developed through the company’s association with Formula One (F1).

The national oil company is the title sponsor for the yearly Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (GP) race in Sepang.

“We want to transfer our F1 technology to road users as well,” Izuddin Husaini said at a media briefing yesterday.

Izuddin Husaini added that the fuel could be used for all types of vehicles but declined to reveal any details about the grading or cost.

At a presentation earlier, it was revealed that Petronas had conducted a blind test on 50 vehicles covering some 25,000km with the mystery fuel.

Federal govt succeeds to intervene in Kelantan oil royalty suit

The Federal Government has succeeded in its bid to be an intervener in the suit filed by the Kelantan state government against Petronas over oil royalty.

In the intervener application, the Federal Government said that all disputed aspects could be deliberated and decided effectively if it was added as the second defendant.

Besides that, the Federal Government said it would be fair for all questions and issues of law raised in the claim to be decided between the Malaysian government and Petronas.

The Kelantan government had on Aug 30 last year filed a breach of contract and constitutional suit against Petronas over the oil giant's failure to pay the state oil royalty.

Lynas defends rare earths refinery amid radioactive pollution 'threat'

Rare earths mining can pose radioactive danger via thorium, found in the raw materials.

A LYNAS rare-earths refinery in Malaysia faces strict regulating as opposition critics warn of the threat from radioactive pollution.

Malaysia said a $US230 million ($228.25m) refinery being built by Australian miner Lynas to process rare earth materials - critical for the manufacture of hi-tech goods - would be strictly regulated , but critics said yesterday that the risk of radioactive pollution was real.

The plant under construction in the state of Pahang is believed to be the first such facility outside China in decades - and aims to reduce Beijing's monopoly on the global supply of 17 rare earth metals essential for making products like flatscreen TVs, mobile phones, hybrid cars and even weaponry.

Critics worry about health and environmental risks posed by low-level radioactive waste from the site, and cite bitter lessons from a rare earth plant of Mitsubishi Chemicals that is still undergoing a massive clean-up after shutting down in 1992.

The Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board gave Lynas permission to construct the facility last year, but has not granted it an operation licence yet.

The agency’s director-general, Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, said: “The board is regulating it according to international standards and even beyond. We haven't begun licensing their (operations). They will have to demonstrate how they would treat the by-products and that would be assessed again.”

Lynas has defended the plant as environmentally safe and having ultra-modern pollution controls.

The Australian miner will refine slightly radioactive ore from its Mount Weld mine in Western Australia, which will be trucked to Fremantle and transported by container ship from there.

Lynas says the refinery is expected to be operational late this year and could meet nearly on third of world demand for rare earths, excluding China’s needs.

The US, Canada and Australia have rare earths but stopped mining them in the 1990s as lower-cost Chinese supplies became available. China has about 30 per cent of rare earths deposits but accounts for 97 per cent of production.

Beijing announced in 2009 that it would reduce rare-earth exports to curb environmental damage and conserve supplies.

Manufacturers were alarmed when China temporarily blocked shipments to Japan last year, during a dispute over islands claimed by both governments.

Concerns over China’s grip on rare earths have led countries on a hunt for alternative sources.

Decreasing supply and strong demand sparked a surge in rare earths prices, prompting companies in the US and Australia to start work on developing or reopening rare earths mines.

Malaysia's last rare earth refinery, at Bukit Merah in Perak state, opened in 1985 but shuttered seven years later following protests and claims that it caused birth defects and leukaemia among residents nearby. It remains one of Asia's largest radioactive waste cleanup sites.

Lynas told AP the Malaysian plant “will set a precedent for leadership in environmental performance with a new global benchmark in rare earths processing”.

It said the radioactive element, thorium, in its raw material from Mount Weld was 50 times lower than that in Bukit Merah. Lynas also said waste products with low levels of thorium could be converted into safe by-products such as cement aggregate for road construction.

“In practical terms, at these levels, exposure to radiation is less than taking a flight on a commercial airline or using a mobile phone,” it said.

The Australian miner said it has agreed to place funds with the Malaysian government to ensure safe management of any remaining residue once the plant stops operations, but didn't give details.

Lynas has inked an agreement to supply up to 70 per cent of its output to Japan and has said the rare earths will be shipped directly to that country, as well as the US and Europe.

Malaysian opposition politician Fuziah Salleh, who has lobbied against the Lynas plant since 2008, said yesterday there were fears that plant wastewater could seep into the waterbed, polluting the nearby river and sea and harming the fishing industry.

She also questioned how the project would benefit Malaysia since Lynas was granted a 12-year tax break and hiring would be limited since the plant is not labour-intensive.

“Malaysia will just become a dumping ground. We will not accept toxic waste being dumped on our shores,” she said.

Gurmit Singh, who heads the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development, called for an independent assessment of the radiation risks at the site.

“The government has been secretive in releasing any data about the radiation level in Bukit Merah to the public. We want accountancy and transparency,” he said.

Petronas set to supply additional LNG cargo to Japan

Malaysian-owned oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will supply immediate additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to Japan, to cater for the increase in LNG requirements.

According to a company statement, Petronas was liaising with its Japanese counterparts to supply the immediate additional LNG cargo from its LNG portfolio sources. It was also working with its buyer in the Far East on possible cargo swaps, advancements and diversions.

At the same time, Petronas was also contributing through involvement with ‘Mercy Malaysia’, a non-profit international emergency response and medical relief organisation that was already in Japan after the March 11, 2011 disaster.

Dedahkan segala maklumat loji Lynas, kata bekas pakar geologi

Oleh : Shannon Teoh

Kedua-dua kerajaan Australia dan Lynas Corporation digesa tampil menjawab banyak soalan yang masih belum dijawab berhubung loji pemprosesan nadir bumi yang sedang dibina di Gebeng dekat Kuantan, kata seorang bekas pakar geologi kanan kerajaan.

Bekas pegawai Jabatan Penyiasatan Kajibumi Malaysia (GSM) itu juga berkata, ketiadaan ketelusan bermakna sukar bagi pihak ketiga dengan kepakaran teknikal untuk menawarkan pandangan mengenai kemungkinan bahaya alam sekitar ekoran kerja-kerja pemprosesan itu.

“Ada banyak soalan tanpa jawapan,” kata Wong Yew Choong kepada The Malaysian Insider semalam.

Wong berkata beliau telah menjalankan siasatan mengenai radiasi kepada GSM, yang kini sebahagian daripada Jabatan Mineral dan Geosains lewat 1980-an bagi loji Asian Rare Earth (ARE) di Bukit Merah.

Loji itu kemudian ditutup pada 1992 ekoran protes awam.

Hampir dua dekad kemudian loji itu yang dikaitkan dengan lapan kes leukemia di kalangan penduduk tempatan masih berhadapan dengan kerja-kerja pembersihan yang menelan kos RM303 juta.

Lynas berharap untuk memulakan operasinya di Gebeng menjelang September ini, untuk bersaing dengan China yang menguasai 95 peratus pasaran nadir bumi.

Syarikat itu menjangkakan pulangan hampir RM8 bilion setahun bermula 2013.

Bagaimanapun di sebalik krisis nuklear di Jepun ekoran bencana berganda baru-baru ini, laporan New York Times mengenai operasi itu awal bulan ini menyebabkan kebimbangan dan mencetuskan polemik baru mengenai isu tersebut.

Sehubungan itu, Wong berkata, seolah-olah kelihatan sebagai “rahsia kerajaan tidak membolehkan rakyat mengetahui butiran projek yang sedang dibangunkan itu.”

“Rakyat seharusnya boleh memperoleh pandangan pihak ketiga, bukan daripada kerajaan ataupun Lynas, mengenai kesemua aspek,” kata beliau.

Lynas berulang kali menegaskan, logam nadir bumi yang akan diproses di Gebeng hanya mempunyai dua peratus elemen radioaktif, torium yang wujud dalam bahan mentah digunakan di Bukit Merah.

Bagaimanapun, Wong berkata menurut tulisan akhbar Amerika Syarikat itu loji tersebut akan memproses 10 kali ganda nadir bumi dan boleh menyebabkan jumlah sisa pembuangan radioaktif dalam jumlah yang banyak.

“Sementara saya ragu-ragu dengan respons bahawa bahan mentah hanya akan mempunyai 0.16 peratus kandungan torium, ia masih satu kadar yang besar jika mereka hendak memproses beratus tan bahan mentah,” katanya lagi.

Malah kata beliau, bahaya radiasi akan terus mengalami pertumbuhan daripada himpunan sisa buangan dan juga debu yang dilepaskan ketika pemprosesan.

Pakar alam sekitar dan penduduk di Kuantan menuntut butiran operasi loji itu daripada Lynas dan pihak berkuasa tempatan.

Petronas Urged Not to Suspend Vendor Development Programme

The Petronas Vendor Development Programme (VDP) Club today called on the national oil company not to suspend the programme which has been successful in upgrading the skills of local vendors.


Its president, Datuk Ramli Md Nor, said he was informed that a Performance Management and Delivery Unit lab had recently proposed a revamp of the VDP including the possibility of scaling it down and even terminating the programme.

"This programme has so far increased the skills and capabilities of small entrepreneurs in line with the government's initiative to create a business community in the industrial and trading sectors," he told reporters after the club's meeting here.

The VDP was established to produce and develop entrepreneurs involved in high-tech products and components. Presently, there are 30 vendors under the VDP with approximately 10,000 employees.

"We hope Petronas will not suspend the programme or reduce the number of vendors as this decision would possibly force the entrepreneurs to close their businesses," Ramli said.

He said Petronas should instead set short and long-term strategies to significantly improve the VDP further.

A concrete action plan was required to put the companies involved as suppliers, service providers and fabricators in good shape as the industry was very competitive, he said.

He said Petronas should attempt to rectify any hiccups in the programme to allow the vendors to contribute and move up the industry value chain as implemented by other government-linked companies like Tenaga Nasional.

China to built four LNG carriers for ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil Corp. and Mitsui OSK Lines have selected Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co., a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., to build four LNG carriers in China.

Two vessels will be used to transport LNG from ExxonMobil’s PNG-LNG project in Papua New Guinea and the other two are earmarked for Gorgon-Jansz project off Western Australia.

The vessels will be jointly owned by Mitsui and China Shipping Co. Delivery is slated for 2015-16.

They each will have a carrying capacity of 172,000 cu m of LNG.

ExxonMobil’s PNG-LNG project has already chartered two other tankers (each with 177,000 cu m capacity). When production begins there in 2015, the four carriers will keep the new terminal at Port Moresby operating around the clock with ships loading every 3-4 days.

Dr M did not reveal all about radioactive waste issue

MAY 26, 2010 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had at last admitted, but not all, what the foreign experts (engaged by the residents) had been saying all along i.e., the danger posed by the radioactive waste from the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) company near Bukit Merah and the waste dumps near Papan was indeed genuine and serious.
What Dr Mahathir said a few weeks ago in the Star Online (May 15, 2010):

“In Malaysia, we do have nuclear waste which perhaps the public is not aware of.”

The answer is that the public is well aware and informed of this nuclear waste and the danger it posed. This was the reason why they took ARE to court.

On July 11, 1992, more than 3,000 residents from Menglembu, Bukit Merah, Papan and other affected areas were present at the Ipoh High Court where the judge, Peh Swee Chin, granted eight plaintiffs an injunction to restrain ARE from operating and storing toxic and radioactive waste. ARE was given 14 days to comply with the order.

Subsequently ARE appealed to the Supreme Court. Barely a month later, on Aug 5, 1992, the Supreme Court allowed the application by ARE to suspend the Ipoh Court’s order to cease operations pending an appeal by the company.

The parent company in Japan, Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation, immediately wrote a letter to the residents expressing regret over the application by ARE.

The letter reads, “... since the court ordered the plant to be closed down, we believe that the plant should not continue its operation without the harmonisation with the local people, whether this ruling is right or wrong.”

“Consequently, we believe that ARE should not apply for stay of execution of the injunction to stop operation, etc.”

On De 23, 1993, ARE finally won its appeal in the Supreme Court. Lord President Tun Abdul Hamid Omar order that the Ipoh High Court decision on July 11, 1992 be set aside with costs.

Then on Jan 19, 1994, to everyone’s surprise, ARE announced that it was closing its plant in Bukit Merah. According to them, the closing of its plant was inevitable because of the unavailability of raw material.

Dr Mahathir: “We have to bury the Amang, a by-product from tin mining.”

The truth is, Amang (a tin trailing which is found in abundance in Kinta Valley) is not buried but is used as a raw material from which Monazite (high value mineral) is extracted. Monazite is a rare earth Othophosphate, containing significant amounts (up to 10 per cent) of the radioactive element Thorium Hydroxide, which is the end product. Thus, radioactive waste Thorium Hydroxide is buried, not Amang.

Dr Mahathir: “It is not radioactive but it is not good to handle. We had to bury it in Perak, deep in the ground.”

Thorium Hydroxide waste derived from Amang is radioactive! The radioactivity present in the waste is from the naturally occurring Thorium and Uranium series which will take millions of years to decay.

Dr Mahathir: “But the place is still not safe, and we have almost one square mile that is dangerous.”

The public already knew that! Twenty seven years ago, Dr Sadao Ichikawa, a professor from Saitama University in Japan found highly dangerous levels of radiation. The surface of the drums at the dumpsite produced a reading of 9,000 urad/hr, and on the nearby farm the reading was 140 urad/hr.

The mandatory level agreed between the Perak State government and ARE was only 200 milli-urad/hr.

(He) did not know exactly where in Perak the Amang was buried.

“Maybe it is a national secret but I know for a fact that we buried this activated material,” he said.

In sum, after a gruelling decade-old battle against the Barisan Nasional government led by Dr Mahathir himself, the people of Perak should be told of the whereabouts of these alleged illegal dumps.

The act of keeping these radioactive waste dumps a secret is downright immoral. — Aliran

* Choo Sing Chye is a former Perak state assembly member.

Ramunia gets extension for plan

Bursa Securities has given Ramunia Holdings Bhd an extension to July 13 to submit its regularisation plan to the authorities, the latter said in a filing with the exchange yesterday.

Last year the oil and gas concern sold off its fabrication yard and machinery to Sime Darby for RM515mil, most of which to be used for paying off creditors.

Kelantan bantah royalti dipindah ke bahagian sivil

Kerajaan Kelantan memohon Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur mengeluarkan perintah supaya kes tuntutan royalti minyaknya daripada Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) dipindahkan semula daripada bahagian sivil ke bahagian dagang.

Dalam afidavit yang diikrarkan oleh exconya Datuk Husam Musa sebentar tadi, beliau membantah keputusan dalam pengurusan kes pada 18 Januari di mana pihaknya kali pertama dimaklumkan tentang pemindahan itu.

Menurut Husam (kiri), beliau terkilan dengan keputusan perpindahan yang dibuat secara pentadbiran dan "tanpa pengetahuan atau persetujuannya, dan tanpa memberikan haknya untuk didengar."

Kerajaan Kelantan juga mendakwa, dalam pengetahuan mereka tiada satu pihak pun yang membuat permohonan pemindahan itu.

"Oleh yang demikian, ia merupakan suatu keputusan yang salah di sisi undang-undang dan hendaklah diperbetulkan," katanya dalam afidavit tersebut.

Dalam samannya sebelum ini, Kelantan mendakwa Petronas melanggar kontrak pembayaran wang tunai yang patut dibayar berhubung pendapatan minyak.

Dalam pernyataan tuntutan, kerajaan negeri itu antara lain memohon dikeluarkan perintah terhadap Petronas agar membuat bayaran penuh dan mendedahkan semua fakta berkaitan dengan pembayaran wang tunai yang patut dibayar kepada Kelantan, termasuk sepanjang tempoh petroleum dikeluarkan, ditemui atau diperolehi di luar pesisir Kelantan; kawasan atau blok dari tempat petroleum itu ditemui atau diperolehi; dan jumlah pembayaran wang tunai yang patut dibayar kepada Kelantan.

Manakala kerajaan persekutuan pula pada 19 Februari lalu memohon menjadi pencelah dan dinamakan sebagai defendan kedua dalam saman tersebut.

Antara alasan yang dikemukakan, kerajaan Malaysia wajar dijadikan defendan supaya semua perkara yang dipertikaikan boleh diputuskan dan dihakimi dengan berkesan dan selengkapnya.

Permohonan terbaru kerajaan Kelantan hari ini akan didengar pada 22 Mac, serentak dengan keputusan kerajaan persekutuan menjadi pencelah dalam kes itu. - Malaysiakini