Page 8 - AsianOil Week 15 2021

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Sarawak takes control of gas distribution

POLICY MALAYSIA’S devolution of oil and gas powers
continued this week as the federal government
granted full control of Sarawak State’s gas distri-
bution to local authorities.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department
for Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Maximus Ong-
kili described the decision, made during the
Special Council on Malaysia Agreement 1963
(MKMA63) on April 14, as “historic”.
The meeting, which also saw Kuala Lumpur
hand administrative control of the Sipadan and
Ligitan islands to Sabah’s government, was attended
by Sabah and Sarawak’s chief ministers, Hajiji Noor
and Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Ongkili, who heads MKMA63, said Sarawak
would assume control and management of the
state’s gas distribution from June 1.
Sarawak has been pushing for greater con-
trol of its natural resources, creating Petro-
leum Sarawak (Petros) in August 2017 to
deliver on that goal.
The Sarawak government announced in in Sarawak Chief Minister Johari Tun Openg
December 2020 that it had reached a commer- said in March that the state’s revenue was likely
cial agreement with the federal government and to increase thanks to a number of new offshore
state-owned Petronas that provided for the state, oil and gas discoveries.
through Petros, to manage, control and under- “There is a possibility besides the Central
take all onshore operations. Luconia and Baram Delta [offshore gas fields],
The agreement also gives Petros equity par- there could be new discoveries … two new
ticipation in Petronas’s offshore upstream oper- discoveries [of gas fields],” he told reporters on
ations as well as additional equity investments March 23.
in Malaysia LNG and Malaysia LNG Dua under He added: “Based on our commercial settle-
terms agreed by both sides. The Sarawak oil ment agreement [with the state government and
company was also given the authority to develop Petronas], we are going to do our part in devel-
its own natural gas masterplan. oping those areas through Petros.” ™

Two Philippine LNG projects

award EPC contracts

PROJECTS & THE Philippines is that much closer to becom- AG&P’s proposed $315mn LNG import facil-
COMPANIES ing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer this ity, which received a notice to proceed from the
week after two separate import projects awarded Department of Energy (DOE) in March, will sup-
engineering contracts. ply gas to the 1,200-MW Ilijan gas-fired thermal
McDermott International announced on April power plant (TPP). Ilijan is one of several TPPs on
14 that subsidiary CB&I Storage Solutions had the island of Luzon to rely on gas supplies from the
won an engineering, procurement and construc- offshore Malampaya field, which is projected to run
tion (EPC) contract from Atlantic Gulf and Pacific dry before the end of the decade.
Company of Manila (AG&P) for a terminal cur- McDermott said mechanical completion was
rently under construction in Batangas Province. slated for the third quarter of 2023, with purging
CB&I will provide the first of two 60,000 and commissioning activities to follow.
cubic metre full containment steel LNG tanks The news of AG&P’s award came a day after
along with geotechnical investigation, soil Jacobs revealed that local utility First Gen had
improvement, foundation and topside platform awarded it an EPC contract for a floating storage
structure, pre-commissioning, purging and regasification unit (FSRU) based import project
commissioning activities. located in Batangas City.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 15•April•2021