Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah going through documents with Assistant Welfare and Community Wellbeing Minister Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex yesterday. The DUN sitting continues today.
KUCHING: There is an increasing number of Sarawakians being employed by Petronas in line with the company’s expansion of the upstream sector in the state.
Assistant Minister for Industrial Development (Investment and Promotion) Datuk Julaihi Narawi, said Petronas was commited to developing human capital and gave priority to the locals.
He told the State Legislative Assembly yesterday that the number of employees in the upstream sector in the state had increased by 10 per cent to 4,400 this year, compared to 4,000 in 2015.
From the 4,400 employess 71 per cent were Sarawakians, he said, adding that 313 were Sarawakians from the increased figure of 400 this year.
The 313 employees were graduates of Institut Teknologi Petroleum Petronas (INSTEP), he added.
He said this when replying to Christopher Gira (BN-Tamin) during a question-and-answer seesion, who had asked why priority was not given to Sarawakians in the oil and gas exploration.
Julaihi, who is also Assistant Minister for Rural Economy (Coastal Areas) and Fisheries also told the house that Petronas had several initiatives under its education and human capital development.
He said 1,862 Sarawakians had graduated from INSTEP since 2007, while 643 Sarawakians had received the Petronas Education Sponsorship Programme since 2003.
He also said Universiti Petronas (UTP) had also produced 596 graduates since 2003.
Julaihi said this when replying to a supplementary questions from Christopher who was interested to know the efforts undertaken by Petronas in education and human capital development in Sarawak in order to prepare the locals for careers in the oil and gas industry.
“Petronas is in fact commited to the development of education and human capital in Sarawak.”
To another supplementary question on an increase in manpower in the upstream sector despite the challenging operating environment in the oil and gas industry, Julaihi admitted that the environment was unfavourable for the industry.
He however said the state was still a key investment area for Petronas and the workforce would continue to grow because the state was important for Petronas.
According to him, Petronas was committed on capability building of locals in tandem with its future development.
“The upstream operation is growing with the establishment of gas office and commencement of Train 9 and floating LNG 1 operation.
“This is why, eventhough the environment is not favourable, there is an increase in recruitment of Sarawakians in the oil and gas industry, especially in the upstream sector,” he added.