• Flag off!

August 30, 2004

The flag off ceremony was organised at the PETRONAS Service Station in Amarat

PETRONAS Adventure Team (PAT), after successfully completing five extremely challenging international outings, was flagged off for its sixth annual overland adventure, the 39-day PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 Expedition.

The flag-off ceremony was officiated by His Excellency Dr. Awad Ahmed Al Jazz, the Minister of Energy and Mining of the Republic of the Sudan. Accompanying Dr. Awad were Mr. Zainal Rashid Mokhtar, Chairman of PETRONAS Sudan, and His Excellency Mohd Zamri Mohd Kassim, the Malaysian Ambassador to the Republic of the Sudan. The ceremony was organised at the PETRONAS Service Station in Amarat, held today to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Sudan’s First Oil and on the eve of Malaysia’s 47th Independence anniversary.

The convoy of 44 Malaysian participants and one handler in 18 four-by-four vehicles will traverse Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, making Casablanca, Morocco, its final destination on 7 October 2004. The vehicles had been transported to Sudan via ships owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd (MISC), a PETRONAS subsidiary. MISC will also be responsible to ship the vehicles back from Morocco.