THE Sarawak opposition is demanding to know why the state’s 10% equity acquisition in Petronas’ MLNG (liquified natural gas) Train 9 Project (MLNG9) has yet to be finalised.

PKR’s Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How said former chief minister the late Adenan Satem had accepted the offer of a 10% equity stake in the project in August 2014.

See said Petronas had since sold 10% of the project to JX Nippon Oil and Energy (JX NOE) and also sold another 10% to Thailand’s PTTGL Investment Limited (PTTGLI), but there has been no mention of Sarawak’s stake.

He said Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg should give Petronas a 30-day deadline to conclude the Shareholders Agreement with Sarawak on the 10% equity.

“The state administration, particularly the state secretary (Morshidi Ghani) who sits in the board of directors of Petronas, owes Sarawakians an explanation why it is taking so long for Sarawak to conclude the deal.

“We have been slacking in the deal to protect Sarawak’s interests and rights,” See Said.

He said not only was the deal not concluded after three years, the Petronas-PTTGLI deal was completed while the chief minister and state secretary were on a purported study tour to Australia.

“It appears the momentum of the good efforts by the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem to regain and restore Sarawak’s sovereign rights to territorial boundary, autonomous powers and rights have not hit a snag or lost.”

Adenan, in the November 2016 Budget sitting, had said the state government was not only “in active discussion” with Petronas on the details of the Shareholders Agreement on the 10% equity in MLNG 9, the state was also seeking for more equity in the MLNG 2 plant.

He kept emphasising that Sarawak’s equity in the MLNG projects “is our privilege”.

See said the 10% sale to the Thai state company last week was therefore “utterly unacceptable”.

He said he hoped the state administration would hold “a thorough inquiry” and demand explanation from all parties concerned so there would be a full disclosure of the findings to be presented to the people of Sarawak. – August 3, 2017.