KUCHING: Batu Kitang assemblyman Datuk Lo Khere Chiang refuted a recent article titled ‘Sarawak and Malaysia can’t afford escalating O&G disputes’, calling its assertions erroneous.
The article in Free Malaysia Today argued that making Sarawak the sole aggregator of its natural gas would be costly for both the state oil and gas company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) and national company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas).
Lo pointed to the success story of Guyana, which transformed from a struggling nation to the world’s fastest-growing economy after significant oil discoveries in 2015, which Guyana leaders exploited their resources and teamed up with Exxon Mobile who gave Guyana 40 per cent of all that has been extracted from the ground to Guyana.
“Exxonmobil’s entitlement was 60 per cent of all the oil resources extracted and Exxonmobil was responsible for all the capital expenditure incurred in the operation and extraction including sales of oil resources. In a matter of nine years, Guyana has become the world’s fastest growing economy and one of the richest nations in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching US$23 billion.
“Malaya has been siphoning off RM80 billion on average, annually, worth of oil from Sarawak over the past 60 years. Sarawak was only given back a 5 per cent of the RM80 billion worth of oil extracted.
“Even with 95 per cent of Sarawak’s wealth siphoned off to Malaya, Malaysia today owes an external debt of RM1.3 trillion while Sarawak’s reserves is a healthy and proud RM40 billion, the highest among all the states in the whole of Malaysia.
“If Exxonmobil can give Guyana 40 per cent of all oil extracted, Petronas should do the same for Sarawak. Five per cent is grossly unfair to Sarawak,” he said in a statement today.
Lo further argued that it is erroneous for the article to state that, “billions in investment in its oil and gas (O&G) infrastructure, currently underwritten by national oil corporation Petronas, is likely to dry up”.
He also dismissed claims that appointing Petros as the state’s oil and gas aggregator would yield less favourable deals compared to Petronas.
“How does one explain the feeble 5 per cent that Sarawak is receiving from Petronas over the last 60 years? Surely Petros will receive a far better deal than the present 5 per cent from Petronas by teaming with any other industry player,” he said.
Lo also criticised a claim in the article that whatever capital expenditure that is supposed to be spent by Petronas must then be borne by Petros.
“It’s akin to inviting oneself to a friend’s house, sitting down, finishing all the food on the table and then asking the friend to pay for the cost of cooking that meal.
“Having deprived Sarawak of a reasonable 30 per cent return of all oil extracted from the state, it is absurd and unfair to ask Petros to bear the capital expenditure incurred by Petronas over the years of exploitation of Sarawak’s oil and gas,” he said.
He also addressed comments from Petronas founding chairman Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who said that only a national oil company like Petronas, has the backing of the entire federation, will be able to avoid being strong-armed by global corporations.
“Going by this logic, Sarawak should be receiving as much as what Guyana is receiving from Exxonmobil.
“Similarly, Sarawak should be receiving as much as what neighbouring Brunei is receiving from Shell for exploiting her oil resources,” he said.
Lo lauded Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg’s effort through a constitutional process to regain Sarawak’s oil and gas rights.
“Petros must continue to fight for Sarawak’s rights under Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Sarawak Land Code, and the Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954.
“Through all these, the legality of Sarawak’s sovereignty over its oil and gas resources is clearly unquestionable,” he said.
He also called for unity among Sarawakians to support the Premier and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government in the quest for regaining the state’s oil and gas rights.
