Marine park at risk from oil and gas drilling

RimbaWatch has launched an analysis Biodiversity Risks of Oil and Gas Prospecting Offshore Semporna using spatial data to conduct a threat assessment of oil and gas exploration across the Teluk Darvel important marine conservation area, off the coast of Semporna, an important marine area identified by conservation group WWF-Malaysia.

This analysis finds that the extractive industry poses significant threats to the oceans off the coast of Semporna.

One of the key areas threatened is the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, a marine protected area established in 2004 and covering 340 sq km, including eight islands, their surrounding reefs and sea.

The analysis reports that, in 2024, Block SB306, an oil and gas exploration block located off the coast of Semporna, was offered for auction in the annual Malaysia Bid Round event.

Recent prospectivity studies identified a multi trillion cubic-feet (TCF) carbonate deposit within the Block.

In February 2025, it was announced that a consortium of local and international fossil fuel companies had been awarded the block, which had been split into two: Block SB306A and SB306B, through separate production sharing contracts for each block. These contracts are valid until 2 March 2054.

Geospatial analysis of maps of SB306A and SB306B sighted by RimbaWatch reveals that the two blocks completely engulf the Tun Sakaran Marine Park: 69% of the Park is covered by SB306B, and the remaining 31% are in Block SB306A.

Outside of the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, the two blocks cover 58% of the entire Teluk Darvel Bay important marine conservation area. The block, along with an existing exploration well, is in close proximity to Sipadan, Malaysia’s most well-known diving site, which was featured in Jacque Costeau’s 1989 film Borneo: Ghost of the Sea Turtle.

The Tun Sakaran Park is within one of three globally outstanding priority conservation areas within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, and is in turn located within the Coral Triangle Implementation Area, which is a multilateral collaborative partnership to protect the earth’s most biodiverse waters.

As part of this broader ecoregion, the park could harbour more than 650 reef fish species, 400 hard and soft coral species, 400 algae species and five out of seven marine turtle species, with one of the highest concentration of reefs in Malaysia.

Hosting at least four endemic species, the coasts of Semporna have the highest species richness of Fungiidae, or mushroom coral, in the entire Coral Triangle. It is concerning that a marine protected area of this magnitude is threatened by oil and gas exploration.

RimbaWatch warns that it is widely recognised that oil and gas developments pose significant environmental risks to marine areas. Impacts from the exploration phase can include acoustic impacts on marine mammal species and altered swimming behaviours of fish.
During the development phase, impacts include damage to the seabed and benthic organisms during drilling and discharge from drilling activities, including lubricants, damaging water quality and causing sedimentation.

In the production phase, other than potential impacts from discharge and the disposal of sledge, the risk of blowouts, leakage during transport activities, oil spills and failure of infrastructure are significant.

RimbaWatch reaffirms that these risks are not insignificant in Malaysia’s context. Major incidents related to oil and gas activities have occurred in recent years in East Malaysia, such as in May 2021 where an offshore oil rig sank while being assembled.

Further, according to Department of Environment data, 130 documented oil spills occurred in Malaysia’s waters in 2014–22, with the top environmental impact being damage to marine life.

These risks are exacerbated by the fact that, despite advancements in oil spill remediation techniques, there remains no efficient and large-scale strategy to clean reefs impacted by oil spills. Current methods are dominated by the use of chemical dispersants, which can be more harmful to reefs than the oil itself.

Beyond biodiversity, RimbaWatch notes that the Tun Sakaran Park is home to a number of coastal and island communities, including the Indigenous Bajau, Suluk and Bajau Laut, who rely on marine resources for their primary livelihoods, through activities such as fishing, tourism and other small-scale businesses. These communities also use coastal flora for building materials, medicinal and spiritual purposes.

Unfortunately, these communities face systemic and cultural discrimination, and are at high-risk of forced displacement for ‘development’, which has occurred in the past and could be exacerbated by the growth of extractive industries in the area.

We consider fossil fuels to be the primary driver of global emissions today. The development of new fossil fuel resources, specifically fossil gas, is in direct conflict with scientific consensus on realistic 1.5C pathways, including the sixth assessment report (2022) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

This consensus has led to a landmark legal ruling by the International Court of Justice in July 2025 which found that the approval of new fossil fuel exploration licences could constitute a wrongful act attributable to the state due to their significant contribution to cross-border environmental harms.

As an environmental think-tank, RimbaWatch reminds the relevant Malaysian authorities about their obligations under the Paris Agreement and the strict interpretations of international climate law and about their responsibility to the Malaysian people to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

Given this, we urge the Sabah Parks Department to initiate steps to strengthen the Sabah Parks Enactment 1984 to exclude harmful activities, such as oil and gas exploration and production in or near marine and coastal protected areas.

In the meantime, the department should ensure that oil and gas exploration in Block SB306A and SB306B does not transgress the Tun Sakaran Park and the wider Teluk Darvel Bay important marine conservation area.

Additionally, Malaysia’s oil and gas operators must commit to ending oil and gas activities in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion and the Coral Triangle Implementation Area, in order to protect the most biodiverse marine ecoregion in the world.

Finally, the Malaysian government must commit to a fossil fuel phase-out aligned with a global fair-share 1.5C pathway. In doing so, Malaysia should join other Global South energy players such as Colombia in calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which will establish a global framework for an equitable energy transition. – RimbaWatch

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