A summary of accusations and confusion clarifications on the above topic. But notice Murphy has been keeping quiet.
From AP via Google, dateline 2010-04-02:
Malaysia’s PETRONAS, Brunei to develop oil blocks
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian national oil company PETRONAS said Saturday that it is in talks with Brunei to jointly develop two offshore oil reserves off Borneo island after the two nations ended a long-standing spat over ownership of the areas.
Both Malaysia and Brunei awarded exploration contracts in 2003 to parts of an undersea site off Borneo with potentially large oil reserves. But exploration activities have since stalled because the countries discovered that some of the areas overlap.
From The Star, dateline 2010-04-02:
Pak Lah dismisses Dr M’s claims he gave away oil-rich areas to Brunei
PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Badawi has dismissed former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s allegation that he had given away two oil-rich areas to Brunei in 2009 in exchange for Brunei dropping its claims on Limbang in Sarawak.
In a statement, he said that regarding the maritime area, Malaysia and Brunei agreed to establish a final and permanent sea boundary in an exchange of letters on March 16, 2009 aimed at settling the boundary issues between the two nations.
From the Sun (no, not that Sun), dateline 2010-05-02 (kinda slow to report, aren’t they?):
Mahathir queries loss of USD100 billion in deal to reclaim Limbang
KUALA LUMPUR (April 30, 2010): Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has taken to task Wisma Putra and his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the loss of USD100 billion (RM320 billion) of Malaysia’s oil in a deal with Brunei to get back Limbang.
In a posting on his blog titled “Malaysia’s generosity” which quoted reports in The Edge Financial Daily, The Edge and the Brunei Times, Mahathir said a substantial oil producing offshore area in the South China Sea, namely Block L and Block M, are no longer a part of Malaysia. In an immediate response carried by news portals Abdullah dismissed Mahathir’s allegation. He said Malaysia and Brunei agreed to establish a final and permanent sea boundary in an exchange of letters on March 16, 2009 aimed at settling the boundary issues between the two nations, including overlapping claims over the two blocks. He said though sovereign rights to the resources belong to Brunei, Malaysia will be allowed to participate, on a commercial basis, to jointly develop the oil and gas resources in this area for a period of 40 years.
And on Tun’s blog deadline 2010-04-29:
1. The Edge Financial Daily, an article by Joseph Chin (The Edge, April 22nd) as well as Brunei Times reported a substantial oil producing offshore area in the South China Sea, namely Block L and Block M, were no longer a part of Malaysia.
2. Malaysians and the Malaysian media did not ask how this came about. It would seem that the loss of a huge oil producing area that had apparently belonged to Malaysia is okay.
3. Block L and Block M had been claimed by Malaysia based on historical facts. Accordingly, Petronas entered into a production sharing contract with Murphy Oil to start drilling to produce oil. It is estimated that the reserves amounted to almost 1 billion barrels.