Regional LNG: Malaysia Tiga resumes full operations

A liquefaction train at Malaysia LNG (MLNG) Tiga plant, which was shut down after a fire in August, has resumed operation, Malaysia's state oil and gas firm Petronas was quoted by Reuters as saying Monday. "It was back up in early March, and is currently running at (full) capacity," said an official at Petronas, the controlling shareholder of MLNG Tiga.

The fire had affected the seventh train, with a capacity to produce 3.4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, at the LNG complex in Bintulu in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The complex has three LNG plants housing eight production trains capable of producing a total of 23 million tonnes of gas a year. The eighth train started production in November.

MLNG Tiga, whose other shareholders include Royal/Dutch Shell and Japan's Nippon Oil , invoked force majeure on gas buyers following the August 16 fire.

It then bought substitute gas from Brunei and Oman, among others, to meet commitments to its customers that include Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) , the world's largest buyer of LNG.

Malaysia is currently the third-biggest LNG exporter after Indonesia and Algeria. (*)