Petronas resumes West Lutong prodn after leak

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 11: Malaysian state oil firm Petronas has restarted production at its West Lutong offshore oilfield in eastern Sarawak state after a pipeline leak forced it to shut down on Wednesday, the company said.

Petronas [PETR.UL] said it has commissioned a new 18-inch (46 cm) pipeline to replace a 23-year-old pipeline that suffered a leak, spilling an unspecified amount of crude oil into a river.

Oil production resumed on Thursday, a day after the incident, Petronas said in a statement issued late on Friday.

The 13 km-long pipeline has a net capacity to transport 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day, similar to the old one.

The new pipeline, installed in February, was originally scheduled to start operations later this month, it said.

REUTERS>