The discovery of additional oil fields at Block PM307 of the Bertam oil field, off the eastern shore of Peninsular Malaysia, was hailed as a major find four years ago.
However, the discovery has now turned sour as it descended into a dispute between Terengganu and Pahang, with both insisting that the oil fields are within their territory and therefore they deserve a cut of the royalty payment.
The oil fields are located about 120km from Pantai Geliga in Kemaman, Terengganu, and 160km from the coast of Kuantan.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who announced the discovery in 2012, declared that the oil fields were situated within the waters of his home state of Pahang, and therefore Kuantan was entitled to up to RM100 million in annual payment.
This caused great unhappiness in Kuala Terengganu, with then Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Said insisting that the find was within the state's waters and that this was confirmed in a letter by Lundin Oil, which developed the oil fields.
The dispute involves four out of 15 oil wells within the Bertam field which can produce up to 18,000 barrels of oil a day.
The issue eventually fell off the radar but re-emerged after the first oil production commenced in April 2015, which meant the petrodollars were flowing too.
It picked up this year when former Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Said accused his rival and successor Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman of selling out the state after the latter conceded the oil fields did not belong to Terengganu.
Are the oil fields really within Pahang waters as declared by Najib? Or is there a conspiracy to steal Terengganu's oil as being made out by Ahmad?
Salor state assemblyperson Husam Musa, who leads the oil royalty movement for Kelantan, said this was a genuine dispute as the maritime boundaries among the states are not clearly defined.
He pointed out that the federal government had never gazetted these boundaries, making the issue a contentious matter.
Husam said that a similar dispute happened between Kelantan and Terengganu because of overlapping oil and gas fields.
According to him, the states should demand Putrajaya to gazette the state maritime boundaries at the National Land Council meeting in October, in order to avoid such disputes.
"The Terengganu government, which has a direct interest in this issue, should take this action and the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia must determine the coastal boundaries.
"Once the maritime boundaries are determined, then it will be easier to determine who the oil fields belong to," he said.
Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad said to date, Petronas had failed to confirm the status of the Bertam oil field.
"The consultant from Sweden (Lundin Oil) had conducted an evaluation and said it belonged to Terengganu, but the strange thing is Ahmad Razif had claimed that Bertam did not belong to Terengganu," he said.
Ahmad Razif was accused of signing off Terengganu's rights over the oil fields after he replaced his predecessor, Ahmad Said.
However, Ahmad Razif denied this, stating that he was making efforts to ask that the federal government allow Terengganu to have some of the oil royalty from the Bertam field.
Ahmad Said, who is aligned to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has been using the issue as ammunition against both Ahmad Razif and Najib.
"Najib said it belongs to Pahang but I say it is the right of Terengganu. We should get five percent royalty," he stressed. - Mkini
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