By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Jan 27: The Sarawak government has demonstrated its commitment to transforming its natural gas resources into tangible benefits for the State, rather than merely exporting them to other countries, says Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Abang Johari cited the successful commissioning of Sarawak Petchem’s methanol plant in Tanjung Kidurong, Bintulu, and its first shipment of 20,000 metric tonnes of methanol to China on January 14.
“This is the first step of our journey towards the utilisation of more gas as feedstock to produce other products as well as to generate power in order to invigorate our economy.
“Every LNG cargo ship that leaves Bintulu to other countries without any further process domestically represents some lost opportunities for Sarawak to benefit from the development of the value chain of its gas downstream sector,” he said in his Chinese New Year message today.
With this approach, he expressed confidence that Sarawak’s gas resources can become a major downstream industry to transform its economy in the next five years and beyond, with the ultimate aim of increasing Sarawak’s household income to be on par with, if not surpass, the national average.
“The Gabungan Parti Sarawak-led (GPS) government has proven that it is walking the talk to ensure that Sarawak can enjoy more benefits from its gas rather than merely exporting it overseas.
“With the completion of this first plant, we have proven that we can do it like other big companies,” he added.
Abang Johari also highlighted other initiatives, including the groundbreaking of a green methanol plant in Tanjung Kidurong and the RM2 billion, 500 MW combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Miri, both spearheaded by Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS).
These projects aim to use gas as feedstock for industries and to generate power for local and regional markets, further diversifying Sarawak’s economy.
At the same time, Abang Johari said the Sarawak Gas Roadmap extends these benefits beyond Bintulu, with plans to channel gas to a terminal at the proposed deep-sea port in Tanjung Embang, Kuching.
“Although our gas has been exported to other countries for the last 40 years, it is still not too late for us to make use of more gas to develop our own domestic gas industry so that Sarawak can benefit more from value-added products and services,” he emphasised. – DayakDaily
