5 PETRONAS MAJOR PROJECTS IN 2013

THE STATE'S oil and gas industry will reach an important milestone this year as 5 of PETRONAS' key projects in Sabah will start coming on stream.

The projects are the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT), the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline (SSGP), the Kimanis Power Plant (KPP), the Kimanis Petroleum Training Centre (KTC) and the Kinabalu NAG upstream development.

According to Joseph Podtung, chairman of PETRONAS Sabah and Labuan, these projects are part of PETRONAS' overall plan to optimise the value of the oil and gas resources found offshore of Sabah.

"All these projects are expected to create spin-off effects to further spur economic activities and employment opportunities as well as provide opportunities for Sabah companies to participate," he said during a luncheon with the Sabah media.

The total value of PETRONAS' upstream and downstream projects in Sabah that were announced in 2011 involves a combined capital expenditure of RM45 billion.

The SOGT in Kimanis, involving a total investment of RM3.8 billion, is progressing at 91%, with the gas receiving facility expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2013 and the oil receiving facility to be ready in the first quarter of 2014.

Once fully operational, the SOGT will have a capacity of 260,000 barrel per day (bpd) of oil, 1,250 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas and 77,000 bpd of condensates.

The SOGT will receive oil and gas via subsea pipelines from three offshore upstream projects namely Gumusut - Kakap, Kebabangan and Kinabalu NAG.

The Kinabalu NAG is expected to commence its first gas production in the third quarter of 2013.

The 300MW Kimanis Power Plant (KPP) which involves the construction of 3 blocks of power plant undertaken between PETRONAS Gas Berhad and Yayasan Sabah, is progressing at 87.34 % with the expected completion of the first block in the third quarter of 2013. KPP involves a total investment of RM1.55 billion.

Meanwhile the construction of the 512km Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline (SSGP) involving a total investment of RM4.6 billion is expected to be ready by the fourth quarter of 2013. The Sabah side of the pipeline involving a length of 92 km has been completed.

The construction of the RM30.5 million Kimanis Petroleum Training Centre (KTC) permanent campus will be completed in the second quarter of this year. KTC provides Industrial Instrumentation and Control courses and currently has a total of 48 students at its temporary campus in Membakut Jaya.

Joseph also added that PETRONAS has awarded contracts worth RM1.07 billion to Sabah companies involving 45 contracts between 2009-2011. The SOGT and SSGP projects sees more than 20 Sabah based companies participating in the projects.

Touching on the recruitment of Sabahans into PETRONAS workforce, Joseph said currently there are 1,558 Sabahans in the employment of PETRONAS, with the majority of those employed (1,107) serving in Sabah and Labuan region. In the last 3 years alone, PETRONAS has recruited 514 staffs members from the state. (Insight Sabah)