Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas and its subsidiaries on September 17 paid state sales tax (SST) on petroleum products of MYR2.95 billion ($712 million) to the Sarawak government. The state Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said Petronas had settled the payments for last year fully. Meanwhile, the SST for this year will be paid after assessing the sales value and volume of Petronas’ crude oil, condensates, urea and LPG.
Previously, Petronas, the Sarawak government, and the Malaysian federal government reached a settlement whereby Sarawak withdrew its civil suit against the state-owned company, and Petronas agreed to drop its judicial review application against the tax.
Abang Johari noted that Sarawak had collected SSTs from other oil companies operating in the state, including Pertamina, Sapura OMV, Shell, and Murphy Oil, totalling over MYR3 billion ($724 million). The taxes will be used to fund ongoing development projects in Sarawak. He added that the state and federal governments would discuss a commercial settlement regarding oil and gas discovered and produced in Sarawak.
