HOMES and industries in Sarawak’s capital city, Kuching, could have piped gas within the decade, state oil firm Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) chairman Hamid Bugo said today.

He, however, said it needs “the right and skilled” labour force.

Hamid said the piping could be done in a short time as the plan does not call for the construction of miles and miles of pipelines from Miri and Bintulu to Kuching.

“When you install pipelines, you have to acquire land and build the infrastructure.

“It’s okay if you’re talking about 50 years (to complete it) or two to three million people (to be cost effective).

“But for Kuching with its 400,000 population, cannot.

“So, assuming if we have the right people with right skills, the time (to have the piped gas) would be 10 years.

“Technology is here,” he said after an event in Kuching today.

Earlier in his address, Hamid said the domestic gas business in Sarawak can only grow given the current scale of existing gas supply and transport network when compared to that in the peninsular.

He added that the pipeline network in the peninsular spanned 2,500km while it is only 36km in Sarawak and there were 890 industrial and large-scale commercial customers in the peninsular compared to only eight in the state.

For residential customers, only homes in Miri are piped and served by Sarawak Gas Distribution Sdn Bhd.

The rest of Sarawak is still fuelled by cylinders.

“Against this backdrop and as single entity to supply, sell and transport domestic natural gas, Petros is now positioned to deliver for Sarawak and Sarawakians.” – February 12, 2020.