"It's a dirty secret. CTOC is venting about 50 million to 55 million cubic feet per day of pure CO2 into the atmosphere, which is a violation of all Petronas' operating procedures as well as Malaysia's commitment to the Kyoto accord," an industry source claimed.

CTOC, a 50:50 joint venture between Malaysian state oil company Petronas Carigali and US independent Amerada Hess, would neither confirm nor deny these figures.

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