State oil firm Petronas today denied the Chad government's allegations it had failed to pay taxes and said it was "regrettable" it had been expelled from the country.

Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno on Saturday ordered Petronas and US energy giant ChevronTexaco, which are part of a consortium along with US firm ExxonMobil, to leave the country for what he said was non-payment of taxes.

"Petronas would like to clarify that it has fully complied with its contractual obligations including all tax payments under the agreements that have been signed with the government of Chad in the year 2000," it said in a statement.

"The issue raised by the government of Chad relates to the validity of one of the agreements signed between the parties which had been previously accepted."

Petronas said it was attempting to find an amicable solution to the dispute.

"It is regretable that the government of Chad acted in this manner while discussions were still ongoing," it said.

It confirmed it had been notified by the government to suspend its activities there, and that it currently had no personnel in Chad.

Probe ordered

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has ordered a probe into the case but said the government would not intervene because it was Petronas' responsibility to resolve the matter.

He said Petronas president Hassan Marican will lead the investigation by despatching a team to the African country.

In a bid to increase Chad's own share of its oil revenue, Deby last week told his government to renegotiate the contract it signed in 1988 with the US-Malaysian consortium.

ChevronTexaco and Petronas are two of three members of a consortium extracting the central African country's oil resources.

Their departure would leave the US oil giant ExxonMobil and the Chadian government to tap the resources together "while waiting to find a solution with the two other partners.