Ahmad Ibrahim says the amount of money involved in the Petronas-Petros deal cannot determine who has legal authority over the state’s oil and gas sector.
Senator Ahmad Ibrahim of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu said the amount of money involved could not decide who had legal authority over the state’s oil and gas sector.
“If a constitutional or legal right exists, it does not disappear merely because recognising it may affect another entity’s revenue,” he was quoted by Dayak Daily as saying today, in response to Zaid’s contention that Petronas would lose key business operations when Sarawak’s oil company Petros takes over from Petronas as the state gas aggregator.
Zaid had disputed an assurance by Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg that Petros will not displace or undermine Petronas. Zaid said Petronas stood to lose billions if it lost control of its gas aggregation role.
Ahmad disputed the figure of RM10 billion a year for the gas business; he said the figure represented broader profit estimates from Sarawak’s gas exports, rather than confirmed losses that Petronas would suffer.
Ahmad pushed back against claims that the current arrangement forces Petronas to forfeit its status as the national petroleum company. He said Sarawak’s laws, such as the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958, predated the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and the enactment of the Petroleum Development Act in 1974.
He said a joint declaration signed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Abang Johari on May 21 last year established a framework in which federal and state laws coexist. “This should not become a contest of Petronas versus Petros, much less Malaysia versus Sarawak. A mature federation should be capable of doing both,” he said. - FMT
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