KUCHING: The aspirations of Sarawakians have been achieved and embedded in the terms of the commercial settlement agreement between Sarawak government and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas).
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said prior to the formation of Malaysia, Sarawak already had laws regulating oil mining on land and offshore in the continental shelf and the state had also been receiving revenues in the form of oil royalty and petroleum tax before Sept 16, 1963.
“Today, Sarawak accounts for over 60 percent of the national natural gas production and over 25 percent of the nation’s oil output with one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex is located at Bintulu which manufacture 28 million tonnes of LNG per annum.
“On account of these factors, Sarawakians want the state government to have a greater degree of involvement in the management of our oil and gas resources onshore and offshore as well as be accorded greater investment opportunities in both the upstream and downstream sectors.
“We also wish to enjoy a more equitable share of the revenue from these resources, secure availability of natural gas produced in the state at fair prices, and for Petronas to continue and expand its current vendor development programmes as well as to provide more opportunities for Sarawak companies to participate in the oil and gas sectors such as in the award of contracts for supply and services works.
“All these are undeniably the legitimate expectations of the people of Sarawak,” he said when speaking at the signing ceremony of the Agreement at Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur (KL Central) on Monday (Dec 7).
With the Agreement, he said these expectations are now embedded in its terms and duly recognised by the federal government and Petronas.
“Going forward, the state government and Petronas have agreed to the establishment of a consultative framework to facilitate and monitor the implementation of the terms of the Agreement.
“This is to ensure that the interests of the state would be given the utmost consideration by Petronas in its decision-making process especially pertaining to the management of the offshore petroleum operations.
“Whilst Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) will be given authority to manage and carry out onshore petroleum operations, Petronas will provide access to Petros, data gathered from its past petroleum development efforts, so that the potentials of the petroleum resources could be realised,” he added.
He also mentioned that the state government has already issued to Petros two oil mining leases covering areas in Miri and near Marudi, to kickstart petroleum operations, and oil prospecting licenses will soon be issued to Petros to facilitate exploration for more hydro carbons in areas described as the ‘petroleum fairway’ in northern Sarawak.
During the signing ceremony, the Sarawak government was represented by State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion and Petronas was represented by its president and Group chief executive officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik.
Witnessing the event were Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Amongst others who were present were Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz; Senior Minister of Works Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof; Petronas chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Nizam Salleh and Petros chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Hamid Bugo.
