By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Dec 12: Sarawak has agreed to surrender its oil and gas (O&G) rights to Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) by signing the Commercial Settlement Agreement (CSA).
This is the view of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan when he said this event would only allow further mining of Sarawak’s resources by Petronas.
“Since oil and gas resources offshores of Sarawak belongs to Sarawak, there should not be any reason for any Commercial Settlement Agreement to be made by the Sarawak government through Petros (Petroleum Sarawak Berhad) with Petronas.
“The recent concluded agreement signed in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7 shows that Sarawak had agreed to surrender or concede Sarawak’s oil and gas rights to Petronas when Sarawak should be the owner of its own resources and not allow Petronas to further mine its resources,” he said in a statement today.
He added this would include the potential 93 billion barrels of resources embedded in the 80-kilometre James Shoal located 45 nautical miles northwest to Bintulu, that was disclosed by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg on Dec 10.
Similarly, there was a speculation of about 200 potential oil fields waiting to be explored between third and 12th nautical miles off the shores of Sarawak.
With the CSA, Voon asserted all these resources belonging to Sarawak would then be harvested by Petronas and benefitting Malaya.
He said this event showed how Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) led government has validated the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA 74) and the Territorial Seas Act 2012 (TSA).
“If GPS government is truly protective of Sarawak and its huge natural resources, it should seek Sarawak to be freed and independent from the federation of Malaysia. After all, there is no prohibition in the domestic and international law for Sarawak to exit from the federation.
“Why should Malaya and Petronas benefit from our oil and gas resources since these are our resources,” he said. — DayakDaily
