KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak’s state-owned Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) is entitled to up to 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily for domestic use in the state beginning March 1 under the Distribution of Gas Ordinance 2016 (DGO), says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"Petros will also be authorised to expand new activities and benefit from cooperation with PETRONAS," the Prime Minister said when he announced the agreements between the Federal Government and Sarawak concerning Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) and Petrosminister during a special briefing in Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Feb 17).
He said this is due to Petros's role as Sarawak's sole petroleum and gas aggregator following the amendments to the DGO.
"In welcoming Sarawak's aspirations to explore the oil and gas industry in the state and to embody the DGO that comes into force on March 1, 2025, Petros will play a role as an aggregator in Sarawak under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA)," he said.
To preserve the spirit of federalism and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), he said that both the Federal Government and the Sarawak state government recognised the PDA 1974 as the main framework for the governance of the nation's oil and gas industry.
He added that PETRONAS and Petros would also work as partners to protect the nation's and Sarawak's interests and benefits.
Anwar assured that PETRONAS would continue to uphold all existing domestic and international contractual obligations.
Last month, Anwar said the issue of gas distribution rights between Petronas and Petros in Sarawak was resolved following a meeting with Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
Anwar also took the opportunity to list the benefits Sarawak had enjoyed from the oil and gas industry since 1976.
This includes upstream investment of more than RM280bil, he said.
"Of this sum, it is estimated that more than RM90bil in contract value was spent in the past decade from 2014 to 2024.
"Registered vendor companies from Sarawak also obtained contracts worth more than RM40bil during the same period," he said.
In terms of financial returns, Anwar said that Sarawak had received cash payments of RM49bil as of December last year.
This is apart from RM18.66bil in sales tax for the third quarter of last year, he added.
He also said that dividends amounting to RM28.6bil were also obtained through shareholdings in the State Financial Secretary through Syarikat Kumpulan MLNG.
Anwar also noted that PETRONAS had also contributed more than RM600mil towards education and development of human capital in Sarawak over the past decade.
He said that over 680,000 Sarawakians were provided education scholarships while 4,300 Sarawakians were employed by PETRONAS.
