Malaysia’s entire petroleum resources are vested in Petronas
From Hafiz Hassan
Unbeknown to many, the rights of ownership of the federal government and the various states in the federation of Malaysia to the petroleum resources in onshore land and offshore land were examined at length by VK Moorthy more than 40 years ago in 1982.
The learned writer was a distinguished member of the Kuala Lumpur Bar. He read law at Lincoln’s Inn and was called to the English Bar in 1965. He returned to Malaysia and was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1966.
He worked first for UMBC Bank and subsequently for Esso Malaysia Bhd from October 1966 as their first legal adviser. In January 1978, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he taught law at Monash University before returning to Malaysia in 1982, setting up his own law firm VK Moorthy & Co.
His article “Changes in the Federal-State Ownership and Exploitation of Petroleum Resources in Malaysia” (1982) Malaya Law Review 186, written with much aplomb, is now a…
