WORKS Minister Baru Bian has called for a thorough investigation and a briefing from Petronas on a fire that broke out on the national oil company’s Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline (PSSP) at Long Segaman, Lawas, in northern Sarawak.

The fire at 1am on Wednesday, which Petronas described as a “vent stack fire”, occurred in Baru’s state constituency of Ba Kelalan and is the third major incident since the pipline opened in 2014.

No one was hurt but Baru said it will “cause more uneasiness and concern” for the many people who live near the 512km pipeline that transports gas from Petronas’ Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) at Kimanis to the Petronas complex in Bintulu, Sarawak for conversion to liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The pipeline is part of Petronas’ Sabah–Sarawak Integrated Oil and Gas Project.

“I am shocked and deeply concerned about the latest report of a third leakage along the Petronas Sabah-Sarawak pipeline,” Baru said in a statement today.

He said Petronas had told him after the second fire at Long Luping on January 10 last year that “stringent procedures were established to ensure such leakages could be detected in advance”.

“Now it looks like these safety measures or the monitoring process are not effective and functioning,” he said.

In the Long Luping case, a leak in the pipeline caused a fire that forced residents to flee in the wee hours of the morning.

The most serious incident was on June 11, 2014, when the pipeline exploded near Long Sukang, forcing its temporary shutdown.

No casualties were reported but the explosion could be heard as far as Temburong in Brunei and Sipitang in Sabah.

The fireball reportedly could be seen in Lawas town, 20km away.

Although about 422km of the pipeline that runs in Sarawak is routed through relatively sparsely populated Lawas and Limbang, some 2,000 people are reportedly living along it.

Petronas said yesterday’s fire ocurred at “BV106” of the pipeline about 1am.

The oil company said its emergency response team put out the fire at 2.38am. – May 9, 2019.