Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has clarified that it will not be paying any more compensation to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for the cost of alternative fuel used by the national power utility.

Its president and chief executive officer, Shamsul Azhar Abbas said the payment (RM1 billion) was supposed to be a “one-off” affair.

“Never had we mentioned in the past that it is going to be a continuous handout to TNB... It was supposed to be one-off, because we pitied them as they didn’t have enough cash at that time.

In an email to Bernama today, Petronas clarified a Bernama report yesterday which stated that it will not continue selling subsidised gas to TNB for electricity generation this year.

On the new pricing mechanism for gas once Petronas’ re-gasification terminal comes on stream, Shamsul said, “We sat down with three ministers three weeks ago and we’ve basically proposed a formula, which takes into account domestic sensitivities.

“So now it’s up to them to bring it up to the Economic Council,” he said.

- Bernama