KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on Wednesday failed to turn Shell MDS (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd’s gas payment dispute into a full trial with witnesses and cross-examination.
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mahazan Mat Taib rejected Petronas’ request to change Shell MDS’ interpleader originating summons (OS) into a writ, saying the payment dispute between Petronas and Petros involves matters of law, not facts.
She said it’s up to the court to decide if a case should be converted from an OS to a writ, where witnesses are called instead of relying only on written statements, and this happens when there are disputed facts.
“There is no basis for a conversion from an OS to a writ, as the issue is related to the gas sales agreement (between Petronas and Shell MDS, and Petros and Shell MDS) and other related government instruments.
“There is no witness credibility (in question) as the issue is a matter of federal and state laws. It is a matter of law and not facts (for determination). This does not justify conversion as facts are not disputed, and the issue is on legal and documentary evidence. The court agrees to maintain the interpleader OS and not convert it into an adversarial trial,” said Mahazan, adding that a full trial would delay the resolution of the case.
Shell MDS had taken a neutral stance in Petronas’ application on Feb 21 to convert proceedings into a full trial, while Petros and the Sarawak government had opposed the application.
Mahazan ordered a date to be set for filing of documents, but Petronas’ lawyers, Khoo Guan Huat and Datuk Azian Aziz, requested case management to get further instructions. The judge then scheduled it for Nov 10 via online review.
The proceedings on Wednesday were also observed by federal government representative federal counsel Muhammad Muhairi Mohamad Noh, Petros counsel Foo Joon Liang and Sarawak government representative Datuk JC Foong.
Shell MDS, represented by Christopher Leong and Janet Chai Pei Ying, filed the OS against Petronas and Petros in November 2024 to get the court to decide whether it should pay Petronas or Petros for gas supply to its Bintulu plant, after receiving invoices from both.
Shell MDS signed a gas supply agreement with Petronas in 2020 and another with Petros in 2024, after Sarawak declared Petros the sole gas aggregator in the state.
Shell MDS also got a court order to pause payments to both companies while continuing gas supply. Petronas challenged this, and the Court of Appeal later ordered Shell MDS to pay Petronas and pushed for a quick resolution.
Shell MDS owes Petronas nearly RM1 billion, which was to be paid on Oct 6, Monday.
Petros has filed a separate suit against Petronas at the Kuching High Court to stop it from using Petros’s bank guarantee for gas payments, arguing that Petronas isn’t licensed to operate in Sarawak under state law.