Petros gets 40 applications from Sarawakians for CEO

Petros chairman Tan Sri Hamid Bugo(filepic) said the applicants included those who are currently working for Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Shell as well as local and foreign oil and gas (O&G) companies. Some of the applicants are working abroad.

KUCHING: Some 40 applicants – all Sarawakians – are eyeing the post of chief executive officer (CEO) at newly-formed Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros).

Petros chairman Tan Sri Hamid Bugo said the applicants included those who are currently working for Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Shell as well as local and foreign oil and gas (O&G) companies. Some of the applicants are working abroad.

“We are now in the process of categorising the applicants. We may go for psychometric tests for them.

“It will take a while for us to pick the CEO. We have to choose the best among them,” he added when asked by reporters yesterday at the Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) headquarters, where chief minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced that SEB was spearheading research in hydrogen and fuel cells for commercial applications.

Hamid said Petros had advertised the CEO post in the newspapers, as this was the fairest way to enable anyone who is interested to apply.

Petros is also recruiting other key management executives to enable it to be operation-ready by the first quarter of 2018.

Hamid was non-committal on whether the operational deadline set by the Government could be met, but is confident that it should start operations in first half-2018.

The primary objective of setting up Petros is to enable Sarawak to participate in upstream O&G development, particularly in the exploration and extraction of O&G within Sarawak waters. The development of marginal oil fields could be among Petros’ undertakings.

Earlier, the chief minister said the Sarawak government had allocated RM5mil initially for SEB to conduct the hydrogen and fuel cell research, which formed an integral part of the Government’s new emphasis to develop the state.

Johari said Sarawak aspired to transform the public transportation sector with clean and green technologies, adding that hydrogen and fuel cell technology is known to be clean since water is the only by-product in the process of producing electricity.