The Kuching High Court has dismissed an application by Petronas to suspend all legal proceedings in a suit brought by Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) over a bank guarantee related to gas supply.
The decision clears the way for Petros’s lawsuit to be heard.
Petros is suing to restrain Petronas from utilising funds of RM7.95 million received under a bank guarantee previously given by Petros in respect of the supply of gas.
Petros contends that Petronas’s demand for payment under the bank guarantee was “unconscionable” or “unlawful”.
The hearing is scheduled to take place on June 11, 2025, Borneo Post reported.
In his decision today, judicial commissioner Faridz Gohim Abdullah said Petronas had failed to show the existence of any sufficiently exceptional or compelling grounds to stay the proceedings.
The High Court had on April 23 heard Petronas’s application to stay the hearing of Petros’s lawsuit pending the disposal of a related case brought by Shell MDS (M) Sdn Bhd against both Petronas and Petros.
Shell MDS’s suit seeks to determine which of the two oil companies ought to receive payment for the supply of gas.
Meanwhile, Petros has an appeal pending in the Court of Appeal over Faridz’s refusal to grant an interim injunction to restrain Petronas from receiving funds under the bank guarantee.
In October last year, Petronas had called on the bank guarantee after demanding payment of RM28,136,403.08 from Petros for gas supplied.
Petros filed its suit against Petronas on Oct 15, 2024.
The Sarawak state-owned oil company simultaneously sought an ex-parte interim injunction to restrain Petronas from pursuing the payment and receiving monies under the bank guarantee.
However, Faridz ruled that Petros’s injunction application had become “redundant” as Maybank Islamic Berhad had already paid Petronas on the guarantee.
