23 July 2010

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has the potential to be the biggest oil and gas producer if gas is fully utilised to develop the industry in the state instead of merely piping it to Bintulu, Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan said.

Tan said Sabah does not have to depend heavily on tourism industry because it has ample resources to attract investors.
“If gas is available, industry players will be coming in to set up their operations here. People who are using gas facilities will come in and be followed by the other players too,” he said.
“The state government is hoping that investors know the facilities that are available here,” he told reporters after visiting Sabah’s first Asean Oil and Gas Expo (AGEX) at Sabah Trade Center here yesterday.
The three-day event, which started yesterday, is participated by exhibitors from various countries, including Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Korea, Italy, Germany,  Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia.
Tan stressed that although the pipes were already laid to send gas to Bintulu as planned, the gas can be made available for Sabah t attract the investors.
“But we have to start calling the investors and training our young people to allow the industry to be developed, otherwise that will be all we can do, sending our gas to Bintulu and receiving royalty.
“It would be much better for us to have our own oil and gas industry than just send gas to Bintulu. That is why there is an urgency to have industrial activities started in Sabah to tap the availability of the gas from Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal at Kimanis,” he said.
Tan said Petronas had been very supportive towards Sabah’s effort to develop its own vibrant oil and gas industry and had agreed to find workable solution to allow Sabah to keep some of its own gas.
“We want oil and gas to create economic activities in Sabah, in line with efforts to generate downstream activities and create high income community.
“It is not just the landing of gas in Sabah but also the planning of oil and gas activities in the state and this includes effort to provide the infrastructure and human resource required,” said Tan.
He added Petronas was willing to assist Sabah in developing trained and skilled human resources for its oil and gas industry through various levels of training programmes.
On the exhibition, he said the event was timely as it brought major names in oil and gas sector where investment opportunities can be highlighted or even discovered.
“The organizer is very brave as a project of this nature is never a small undertaking and very significant as Sabah needs to know and bring in the players in the industry,
“The exhibitors here are well-known brands in oil and gas, with most of them being suppliers and partners of Petronas.
“We will continue to organize this kind of activities to create awareness on the opportunities available in oil and gas Sabah,” he said.

(Source: The Borneo Post)