Sarawak government to set up oil and gas company

By Simon Peter

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10, 2017- State government will set up an oil and gas company that will work alongside Petronas in the oil and gas exploration within Sarawak's territorial waters, Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg said this evening.

Abang Johari says the oil and gas company will collaborate with Petronas in exploration within Sarawak's waters.

"We want to be an active participation in the oil and gas industry in an orderly and restructured manner," he said at the breaking of fast with Sarawakians working and studying in Peninsular Malaysia here.

He said the state is not just asking for an increase in oil royalty from 5 % to 20%, but is also proposing to set up an oil and gas company.

"This is something new because we want to form the company that will be working together with Petronas, especially in the production sharing contracts.

"This is a new approach which has been agreed to by Petronas, and in fact, I have met with the Petronas president (Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin)  on the matter today," he said.

"With such collaboration, we will be able to implement our policies in the oil and gas industry," he said, adding that Sarawak has a say in the oil and gas exploration in Sarawak's territorial waters.

Abang Johari said he has met with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who agreed to allow the state to repair dilapidated school buildings. or build new ones.

"We have identified 100 schools that are urgently in need of rehabilitation or replacement," he said, adding that a new approach will be used to either rehabilitate dilapidated schools or to put up new buildings.

Abang Johari also said that the setting up of the Education, Science and Technological Research is to make sure that there is no flip-flop education policy in Sarawak.

"This is why we in the State Cabinet have agreed that there should be a medium for us to collaborate with the federal government for us to improve the school infrastructures including the teachers quarters in the rural areas," he said.

"It is not because we want to take over the rights of education from the federal government, but to complement the efforts of the federal government in the state, especially in providing educational infrastructures," he said.