NO SABAHAN HAS BEEN APPOINTED BY PETRONAS AS A BOARD MEMBER SINCE ITS INCEPTION

Petronas unfair to Sabah

Kota Kinabalu: The best means of ensuring that Sabah's interests are not ignored in Petronas' dealings is to have a Sabahan appointed to its Board, said former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh.

"It is believed that no Sabahan has been appointed by Petronas as a Board Member since its inception," he said in a statement, Wednesday.

He said it was more timely now as "I understand Sabah is at the start of an oil boom after a string of successful discoveries of deep water fields".

He believed the State's deepwater projects like Kikeh, Gumusut/Kakap, Ubahcrest, Pisangan, Malikai Sumandak, Ambalak, etc, would propel Sabah to be the biggest producer of crude oil in Malaysia.

He said the projections are that Sabah is expected to produce 500,000 to 600,000 barrels per day compared to the current national production of only 700,000 barrels per day.

"This is not inclusive of (ex-Petronas Chairman) Tengku Razaleigh's claim of a huge oil deposit found off Sabah, the biggest in South East Asia capable of producing one million barrels per day," he said.

With the massive expected production from Sabah and from its operations since 1975, Harris presumed the State would be fully engaged in the industry, with major oil and gas infrastructures, downstream industries and activities.

"But the major complaint is that Sabah has little to show despite its huge oil and gas reserves vis-Æ-vis Sarawak and Terengganu.

Sabah has only a methanol plant in Labuan Federal Territory whereas several states that do not produce oil like Pahang, Johor, Kedah and Melaka have extensive oil and gas infrastructures, industries and activities," he said.

Harris said another complaint about Petronas that he had received was that Sabah companies, particularly in the construction fabrication and service sectors, were being sidelined in most of the national oil corporation's onshore and offshore projects in Sabah.

As a matter of fact, almost all the contractors are from West Malaysia and Sarawak and the contracts given out run in the billions, he said.

"I, for one will not be able to accept that Sabah companies are deemed not capable of providing services such as maintenance, logistics, support, catering, fabrication, vessels, etc.

"All these services are clearly defined in the 1976 Petroleum Agreement under the 'Local Content' clause, that is, Sabahans be contracted to operate these services," he said.

To add insult to injury, these companies which were developed by Petronas in the late 1980s through the Vendors Development Programme have been bringing general workers from other states to work in Sabah production fields, he said.

"Are they saying Sabahans are not even capable of being general workers?

I wish to remind Petronas that this not only a violation of the 1976 Petroleum Agreement and the Local Content clause but that it is also violating our local ordinance and State law by acquiring workers from other states to apply for work permit before assuming their duties.

"It is believed that about 95 per cent of the workers are from other states and countries now presently working in Sabah waters.

The State Government should investigate this without further delay," he said.

He said another bone of contention by Sabahans against Petronas is that despite reaping billions of ringgit from Sabah, it has been somewhat reluctant to disclose how many scholarships it has given to Sabahans since its inception and whether the distribution of these awards had been done fairly.

In fact, it was recently accused by the opposition of literally robbing Sabah students by requiring them to pay RM20 for applying for scholarships online, regardless of whether the applications are successful.

"This is shameful when even Shell does not charge a sen from scholarship applicants and Shell has also been transparent in letting the public know who and how many received its scholarships yearly.

"It must be reaping tens of thousands of ringgit from these poor youngsters when applying through the computer costs no money since it is paperless."

Meanwhile, on the issue of the Blocks L and M, Harris said his personal opinion was that if Brunei is historically and legally entitled to these blocks, both the state and federal governments should follow the procedures to formalise the dispute.

On the other hand, if Brunei is entitled to have Limbang based on history and legality, then the Malaysian government should also look into it and resolve the matter without further delay.

"To my knowledge, Murphy Sabah Co. Ltd was awarded the two blocks in 2003 worth more than 100USD billion in oil revenue and that Sabah is entitled to five per cent.

"Now that the blocks have been ceded and Petronas has the right to jointly develop the fields with Brunei, is Sabah still entitled to the royalty or profits from Petronas?" he asked.