THE Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has denied that the purchase of stakes in Petronas was discussed by the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) steering committee.

Matters concerning oil and gas were deliberated on in separate talks between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg and Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, it said.

The statement is in response to Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister and Sarawak Pakatan Harapan chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s remarks that Abang Johari, at an MA63 steering committee meeting, agreed in principle to buy a stake in Petronas.

“The deputy minister is not privy to detailed information with regard to oil and gas share issues, and is not an authority to divulge any information on such a discussion, if any,” said the Sarawak CMO.

“ln addition, it must be noted that the purchase of stakes in Petronas subsidiary companies cannot be equated with a similar purchase in Petronas proper as the parent company.”

It said Sarawak has stakes in the national oil firm’s liquefied natural gas subsidiaries, and is an equity partner in Shell MDS Sdn Bhd.

“As of today, there is no offer on Petronas proper.”

Chong also said Abang Johari’s predecessor, the late Adenan Satem, had advocated for the state government to take up a stake in Petronas.

“Sadly, at that time, the then Barisan Nasional federal government refused to divest any portion of its equity share in Petronas to the Sarawak government because it wanted to keep to itself all the lucrative dividends and revenues Petronas generated for its shareholders.” – Bernama, December 16, 2019.