Abdullah’s denial raises more questions - Anil Netto

Former premier Abdullah Badawi has denied giving up the oil rights in Blocks L and M – but his response raises more questions.
In remarks published by the Malaysian Insider, he said Blocks L and Block M would be jointly developed by Malaysia and Brunei over 40 years. He added:

The financial and operational modalities for giving effect to this arrangement will be further discussed by the two sides. This means that in so far as the oil and gas resources are concerned, the agreement is not a loss for Malaysia…
This agreement serves to settle certain overlapping claims which existed in the past which included the area of the concession blocks known before as Block L and Block M. Sovereign rights to the resources in this area now belongs to Brunei.
However, for this area the agreement includes a commercial arrangement under which 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…
In my capacity as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, I signed the Exchange of Letters with the Sultan of Brunei after the Malaysian Cabinet approved the deal on 11 February 2009…

More answers are needed:

• On what basis did the Cabinet and Abdullah decide to hand sovereign rights to the resources to Brunei?
• What were the precise terms of the agreement? What did Malaysia get in return? Limbang?
• Why wasn’t this deal made public? Was it raised in Parliament?
• What is the financial impact of this deal on Malaysia?
• Why were the contracts with Murphy Oil cancelled? How will Murphy Oil be compensated?