Sarawak and Petronas dispute resolved, to sign commercial settlement next week

KUCHING: The Sarawak government has reached an agreement with Petronas for a commercial settlement which will be signed next Monday, says Datuk Amar Asfia Awang Nassar (pic).

The Sarawak Consultative Committee chairman said the terms were agreed after extensive discussions between the state government, Finance Ministry and Petronas.

He said an agreement would be signed in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7 and the full details would be released then.

"The state government will be represented by the state secretary (Datuk Amar Jaul Samion) and Petronas by its chairman (Datuk Ahmad Nizam Salleh).

"This historic signing will be witnessed by the Chief Minister (Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) and the Prime Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin), together with the negotiation teams," he said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 3) after chairing a meeting of the committee.

Asfia, who is also Sarawak Speaker, said the committee was briefed on the commercial settlement by state government representatives involved in the negotiations during the meeting.

"We were informed of the scope, salient features and terms of the settlement, as well as the significant benefits and advantages from the agreement for the state," he said.

In May, the Federal Government, state government and Petronas agreed that issues relating to the imposition of state sales tax on petroleum products and Sarawak's decision to regulate oil mining under state laws should be resolved outside the courts.

The legal actions commenced by Petronas and the state government were withdrawn in Aug.

The Government then formed a joint committee headed by Senior Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to facilitate discussions on the commercial arrangement between the state government and Petronas.