KUCHING, Jan 17: Deputy Minister for Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dr Hazland Abang Hipni has revealed that Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) will be the licensee for all carbon storage activities in the State.
According to a Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) report, Petros will serve as the resource manager because all of the land in the region where oil wells are located is Sarawak’s property, as stated in the land code, which was amended during the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) session last year.
“More than 1,600 oil wells in Sarawak have been fully explored, and the total amount is estimated to be sufficient to store 9 billion tonnes of carbon.
“Sarawak is a stable location for carbon storage activities because its oil wells are located outside the Pacific Ring of Fire,” he said today at the first sessions of the Sarawak Oil & Gas Contractor Transformation Programme (PKTS) in Miri.
“Take Singapore as an example, which needs to store a total of 50 million tonnes of carbon per year but can only store 5 million tonnes per year in its existing oil fields.
“Meanwhile, they can take advantage of Sarawak’s capacity to store the 45 million tonnes of carbon.”
Dr Hazland, who is also Demak Laut assemblyman, added that Petros as a licensee can enter into a joint venture (JV) with other companies to lease oil wells for carbon storage.
“So, we will get income through the rental of each oil well. Imagine the income earned for hundreds of years of carbon storage.
“This is a new economic source. It is a new income for Sarawak,” he disclosed.
Also present were Suarah Petroleum Group (SPG) chairman Abang Iskandar Abang Muas, Sarawak Bumiputera Chamber of Commerce (DUBS) executive secretary Sarbini Abang, Miri DUBS chairman Mohammad Hafidz Rohani, and OGSE Sector Development deputy president, Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC) James Chan. — DayakDaily
