BIMP-EAGA offers huge market for investors O&G, palm oil

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KOTA KINABALU: The Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) offers a huge market for investors, particularly in the oil, gas and palm oil industries, said State Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah.

SHOWCASING STRENGTH: Tan (third left) together with Ramos (fourth left) visit the exhibition area after officiating the BIMP-EAGA Programme at Sabah Trade Centre in Kota Kinabalu. — Bernama photo

He said with the re-energisation of the BIMP EAGA’s activities of late including the successful holding of its expo attended by former Philippines President Fidel V Ramos here recently, the stage has been set for a conducive business environment for investors.

“If we look at the east of Sabah and Kalimantan, Indonesia spreading over all the nearby islands, this is the place or the biggest area where palm oil is planted and the highest production of crude palm oil (CPO) in the world…so that is already a potential,” he told reporters after opening the ‘Oil, Gas and Palm Oil Suppy Chain’ forum, here yesterday.

Tan said the other part of BIMP EAGA really active in oil and gas industry was Brunei, located north of the island of Borneo.

“I have made a trip to Brunei and I have told Brunei how we could work together in oil and gas.

In the west coast of Sabah, because we are so close to Brunei  we are looking into developing oil and gas.

“In Brunei, oil and gas is the main industry…and when they extend their activities into port Muara, it is in the Brunei bay, and next to it is Labuan and inside is Sipitang (Sabah).

“Sabah and part of Sarawak, Labuan and Brunei are in that area and so by itself that is already a natural hub of oil and gas…there is a huge potential to tap into,” he said.

Earlier, in his speech, Tan said Sabah had a history of selling its natural resources, “but now we want to attract investors to Sabah to develop our resources.

“We can protect our green environment and still drive our industries especially in oil palm and oil and gas with new innovations and technologies.

“If we achieve this end, our products will be marketed at a premium in a world that is conscious of protecting its green environment,” he added.

On oil palm, Tan said Sabah was planted with 1.5 million hectares of oil palm producing some 6.5 million tonnes of CPO, about one million tonnes of palm kernel oil and some 30 million tonnes of valuable biomass.

As for its oil reserves, Sabah had 2.3 billion barrels with estimated depletion period of 43 years and 12.1 trillion cubic feet of gas with estimated depletion period of 30 years, he said.