By Karen Bong
MIRI, Oct 26: Over 2,000 professionals and executives from Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) and Shell Malaysia are currently deployed in Miri where the two major oil and gas companies have set up their bases for upstream activities.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting pointed out that the outlook for Miri city is bright after the most challenging of years due to Covid-19.
“The deployment of staff and resources from Petronas and Shell to Miri has already started this year and it is expected to be completed by early next year.
“From what I gathered, there are about 1,500 senior officers from Shell and Petronas with nearly 500 senior staff coming down,” he told DayakDaily when contacted today.
On Nov 3 last year, it was reported that Shell had made the decision to move its operations in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah to Miri as part of its transformation plan.
On top of that, Ting also learnt that Sarawak’s very own oil and gas company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) also plans to add about 100 staff to its Miri office.
Ting thanked Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg for setting up a special desk to facilitate operations for not only the oil and gas sector but international investors planning similar moves.
He believes that all these will drive the economic growth of Sarawak especially Miri next year with spin-off to benefit even the smallest and ordinary businesses including e-hailing services.
“It will spur the housing sector, logistics sector and even the oil palm plantation sector. We hope it will create a lot of demand in various sectors as contractors will also be coming in.
“More importantly, we hope it will create more job opportunities for Sarawakians,” he said.
As the economic scene is set to grow and prosper, Ting also hopes that Brunei will open up its borders soon. — DayakDaily
