Masidi: SMJ Energy will pursue oil and gas sector opportunities
He said, despite the state financial investor not taking part in the bidding of production-sharing contract (PSC) for the Mutiara Cluster Small Field Asset (SFA) with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), SMJE could still be part of other stages in the industry.
"While Sabah is not ready to bid directly in this round, participation at other stages is still possible. We must understand that bidding for oil exploration and smaller contract work are very different.
"Exploration requires billions in capital expenditure. At this point, SMJE and Sabah International Petronas Petroleum (SIP) are not yet qualified to take on such bidding because we lack the technical expertise," he said during a question-and-answer session at the state legislative sitting here.
The state finance minister was replying to an additional question by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang) on why SMJ Energy or SIP was involved in the bidding process for the Mutiara Cluster oil block off Sabah's east coast.
Shafie said Petronas awarded it Dialog Group Bhd, based in the peninsula, instead of Sabah's own state-linked entities.
Masidi clarified that the award process was part of an international bidding exercise for exploration. He said it was not a small-scale operation and required deep technical capacity and significant capital.
Masidi acknowledged the sentiment expressed by Shafie but urged for a broader and more realistic perspective, citing Sabah's relatively recent entry into the oil and gas sector compared with Sarawak.
"We are often compared with Sarawak, but their oil industry began over a hundred years ago. We are just starting out, we are crawling while they are already running. Insyallah, Sabah will participate more directly in this industry in the future," he said.
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