Halt oil and gas works at protected marine park, NGO urges Sabah govt

Environmental watchdog RimbaWatch today urged the Sabah state government to not approve any oil and gas exploration activities within a site called Block SB-403, which it claimed was situated entirely within the state's protected marine park.

In a statement today, the group said the Tun Mustapha Marine Park in Sabah is listed as International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Category VI marine protected area, which only permits low-impact activities.

"Oil and gas activities are contrary to the aims of IUCN Category VI protected areas and the zoning plans of the Tun Mustapha Marine Park, which only permit low-impact activities.

"Oil and gas activities risk damaging the marine environment of the park, including risks to 45,000ha of reefs, 17,000ha of mangroves and over 180 vulnerable and endangered species.

"These activities also threaten the fishing-dependent livelihoods of over 85,000 villagers, including from the Bajau Laut and Ubian communities," RimbaWatch said.

According to report by The Star, Petronas had awarded Block SB-403 - an offshore oil exploration area in northern Sabah that covers about 10,256 square kilometres – to Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and E&P Malaysia Venture (EPMV) during the 2023 Malaysia Bidding Round.

The two companies (Petronas Carigali and EPMV) later signed a production sharing contract with Sabah-owned SMJ Energy Sdn Bhd, where they allowed it to take a stake of up to 20 percent participating interest in the area.

Directly inside the park

Elaborating, Rimbawatch claimed that the boundaries of block SB-403 overlap almost entirely with the boundaries of the Tun Mustapha Marine Park.

This, it said, was based on a geospatial analysis of a map of the block published by Petronas that was overlaid with data on marine protected areas for Sabah.

"According to the map published by Petronas, the fossil fuel prospects and existing wells in SB-403 are all located directly inside the park's borders.

“It demonstrates that not only has fossil fuel exploration activity already occurred in the park, but production could have potentially been mandated to continue within the park.

"Further, based on zoning maps of the TMP, the prospects are located in the commercial fishing or multiple use zones of the park, and are located close to some of the ‘preservation zones’ of the park," the group said.

Affecting wildlife

Adding further, Rimbawatch said oil and gas projects would pose significant environmental risks to the marine areas and endanger the biodiversity site, which hosts over 82 species of hard corals with a reef area of about 45,156 hectares, 715 species of fish, over 20 species of shark and nesting sites for the Hawksbill and Green sea turtles, among others.

"The Sabah Parks Department must take action against this transgression of the Tun Mustapha Marine Park's zoning and work with the Sabah government to ensure that no permits related to oil and gas exploration in the park are approved, including for any future environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports to be rejected.

"And Petronas should commit to excluding oil and gas activities in all protected areas, both offshore and onshore.

"The Department of Environment should also disclose whether an EIA had been conducted for past exploration activities in the park," it said.

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