KUALA LUMPUR (May 13): An agreement between Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Sarawak's state-owned Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) on the management of natural gas in the state would be announced in "two more days", according to Borneo Post, quoting Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Under this agreement, Petros will be recognised as the sole gas aggregator in the state and Sarawak will increase its stake in liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a commercial agreement, Abang Johari, or Abang Jo as he is popularly known, was reported as saying.
“Just wait two more days. A document on the agreement between us and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be released,” Abang Jo was quoted as saying after launching International Construction Week Borneo at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching.
On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Anwar and Abang Jo have “agreed to finalise the basic principles in the near term as was agreed upon previously” on the negotiations between Petronas and Petros, without sharing details.
The negotiations, PMO said, was “to ensure the huge potential that has been identified from the collaboration between Petronas and Petros can be fully explored and effectively executed”.
“This includes expediting commercial energy supply to Asean countries”, the statement said, adding that the two leaders have agreed to “resolve all issues that arose through negotiations”.
The PMO statement did not elaborate on when any outcome of the discussions will be revealed.
Negotiations between Petronas and Petros on the management of natural gas distribution in Sarawak — a major producer of natural gas in the country — caught the spotlight late last year, when reports cited Abang Jo as saying that the negotiations would be concluded in October.
As talks continued, the Sarawak state government accused Petronas’ upstream unit of breaching state laws by operating a crude oil terminal in Miri without a licence.
The two parties are also in court after a unit of oil company Shell secured court approval to halt payment to both Petronas and Petros for natural gas supplies in Bintulu. Both companies had sent their invoice to Shell MDS (M) Sdn Bhd for the same gas supply.
In April, Bernama reported that a former Petronas manager pleaded not guilty to attempting to disclose confidential information about Petronas to Petros.
Sarawak is the largest gas producing state in Malaysia, with the bulk of the supply being exported to countries like Japan and Korea for the power plants in the country.
It was reported that Sarawak is seeking a higher share of gas supply for domestic consumption to fuel the state’s economic growth. Abang Jo has previously said that the change in the state’s gas aggregator will not affect existing LNG supply agreements between Petronas and its customers.
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