Saving resources for future
Published on: Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The Government has decided not to sell all the crude oil and natural gas in Sabah but save the natural resources so as to prevent their fast depletion following huge drop in prices in the global market. Deputy Chief Minister cum Industrial Development Minister Datuk Seri Raymond Tan (pic) said the Government has made a smart move as it wants to save the oil and gas resources in the State for future generations. The move would also ensure the industry sector in Sabah continues to grow and provides ample job opportunities.
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"When the prices of oil dropped enormously, the government was not happy because it has to dig more of the oil in order to match its past earnings. For instance, the fuel price per barrel was USD120 per barrel in the past but today, the price has dropped to USD40 per barrel which showed huge differences."Therefore, we have to dig more and in this case, we have to produce three barrels in order to get USD120 compared to only one barrel for that price. "Our oil and gas reserves can sustain for about 30 years but if the fuel prices keep dropping, then our natural resources can be finished…in five years or 10, we will have no more oil and gas to sell," he said, in his talk "Career Opportunities in Industry Sector in Sabah' to over 200 Polytechnic students at Kota Kinabalu Polytechnic in Sepanggar, Tuesday.The talk was held in conjunction with the two-day Career Carnival of the Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) Sabah 2016 programme jointly organised by Polytechnic Education Department, Community College Education Department, Vocational and Technical Education Division, Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) and other TVET institutions.
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Given such forecast and to ensure the industry in Sabah continues to grow, Tan said the State Government has decided to focus on using the oil and gas to create downstream products like fertilisers so as to create businesses and better jobs for the people in Sabah. The same concept also applied to crude palm oil, he said as the oil palm trees and its empty fruit bunch have many uses that can be processed to produce value-added or downstream products like cooking oil, soaps, detergents, vitamins, and other bio-chemical products.
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"Look at Singapore, it is developed as it buys the natural resources (palm oil) and uses technology to process them to produce value added products that lead to their industries being capable of creating jobs and more businesses for them, thus Singapore is earning lucrative earnings and profits. "We do not have to do that because Sabah has the natural resources and thus we do not want to sell all. The State Government is now looking into making full use of our oil and gas as well as Crude Palm Oil to produce downstream products and export them to earn better and lucrative income. "That is why we have the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal in Kimanis and Sabah Ammonia and Urea Project (Samur) in Sipitang. "We will use our natural gas to produce the fertilisers and produce variety of value-added products like plastic that has many uses in our daily lives and this could lead to more businesses and many job opportunities for our locals," he said.Tan said the State Government wants to push the industrial sector in Sabah to be more developed as it creates jobs. "The government spent billions of Ringgit in setting up the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu whereby basically it is a cluster and it is an industry vital to the State as it gets the natural resources of crude palm oil (CPO) and processes the raw resources in one place. "We provide the necessary infrastructures, facilities and utilities in in POIC Lahad Datu as it is located in the East Coast where there are many vast oil palm plantations and these prospects, among others, have attracted investors into the POIC."Following such positive development in POIC, SOGT and Samur, we need the locals to fill up the vacancies and jobs that we have created from these industries," he said.Tan said the industries need workers who are skilful and possess knowledge of the latest technology as well as proper academic qualifications.For the polytechnic students who are taking up technical and vocational courses including engineering courses, he said the State government wants to make sure that they will be employed as the rate of getting employed is very high and the target is 90 per cent.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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