KUCHING, Aug 18: Each and every Sarawakian may be entitled to get RM4,412 annually — courtesy of the state government — if Sarawak fully owns and manages its oil resources.
The amount would be much more if income derived from the state’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) is factored in, said Chan Chee Kiong, a Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) leader.
He based in his calculations on 2017 statistics, where the state produced 850,000 barrels of oil daily. The price of oil then was US$60 (US$1 = RM4) per barrel, meaning the total income last year was US$18.6 billion.
After paying the oil operation firm 60 per cent of the amount generated, the remainder is about US$7.4 billion. Now, assuming the state government used 40 per cent of the remainder to develop the state, there would be US$3 billion left.
Since Sarawak has a population of about 2.7 million, dividing US$3 billion by 2.7 million would yield US$1,103.
“So, based on last year’s oil production, each Sarawakian will be entitled to a cash payout of RM4,412 per year. And this excludes the income from LNG,” Chan told a press conference here today.
He thus urged all Sarawakians to help the state fight for full autonomy as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, especially the rights to oil and gas.
“Why should we allow people to continue taking away our oil and gas resources and be given a meagre five per cent royalty when we can have 100 per cent of it?” he asked.
Chan opined that under MA63, Sarawak should be given full autonomy over its oil and gas resources.
“This is part of the 10-point demands that S4S is forwarding to the Sarawak government to negotiate with the federal government,” he said.
On a related issue, Chan said the oil reserves in Sarawak currently stood at 48 billion barrels.
“Sarawak is known to have huge oil and gas deposits within its territorial waters. We are optimistic our oil reserves could be much higher than that,” he said. — DayakDaily
