KUCHING, June 27 — The Sarawak Petroleum Contractors Association has urged that Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) give the state’s contractors priority, in awarding contracts related to oil and gas exploration in Sarawak waters.
Its Protem Committee chairman Datuk Rahman Lariwoo said the contract jobs could be handed over to contractors from outside Sarawak if local contractors were not capable of carrying out the tasks.
“If possible, we want all jobs available in the Sarawak waters to be given (first) to the oil and gas contractors from Sarawak, as we believe most of them are experienced in drilling rigs right up to production of oil and gas,” he said after chairing the first protem committee meeting, here today.
He said the contractors in the state were experienced as they had been involved in the oil and gas industry since 1910, adding that currently Petronas only gave 30 per cent of the contract work to local contractors.
To date there are over 400 contractors from Sarawak registered with Petronas, he said.
He added that these contractors were involved in jobs ranging from providing catering services to oil and gas field engineering and exploration services.
As such, he called on all local contractors to join as members of the association to add voice in urging Petronas to give them priority when awarding Sarawak oil and gas projects.
He said the association would also cooperate with the state government and Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) to further boost the industry in the state. — Bernama
