KALABAKAN: Sabah is expected to receive a 40 per cent stake in the third Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility project in the State under an agreement to be signed with Petronas, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said.
He described the latest development as one of the major achievements under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) administration resulting from close cooperation between the State and Federal governments.
The development was also the outcome of a cooperation agreement previously signed with Petronas, enabling the Sabah Government to play an active role in the State’s oil and gas industry.
He said the State Government would also receive a 20 per cent stake in a Petronas project involving a newly discovered oil and gas field off Sandakan.
“We successfully entered into an agreement with Petronas and, in the next few months, we will sign another agreement under which Sabah will receive a 40 per cent stake in the floating liquefied natural gas project in Sabah.
“In Sandakan, Petronas has secured an oil and gas field, and Sabah will be given a 20 per cent stake,” he said when officiating at the Kalabakan Parliamentary Constituency Jelajah Rakyat and Jualan Rahmah Madani programme at the Kalabakan District Office Open Hall, Saturday.
Sabah currently has two operational FLNGs offshore with the third nearshore project under construction. The operational facilities are FLNG Satu, which was relocated to the Kebabangan cluster field about 90km northwest of Kota Kinabalu in 2019 and has a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).
FLNG Dua, which has been stationed at the Rotan gas field in Block H, about 140km offshore Kota Kinabalu, since 2021 with a capacity of 1.5 MTPA.
The upcoming FLNG Three (ZLNG) project is a nearshore facility being developed at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP), with a capacity of 2.0 MTPA and is targeted for commissioning in the second half of 2027.
Earlier, Hajiji attended a development briefing on Kalabakan presented by District Officer Murad Abdul Rashid at the district office.
Also present were Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, State Youth Development, Sports and Creative Economy Minister Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, State Secretary Datuk Zainudin Aman and Sabah Assistant Ministers. Hajiji said the people and the State stood to benefit greatly from the good relationship between the State and Federal governments.
He said Sabah was also attracting increasing interest from investors through his administration’s investor-friendly policies, which had been acknowledged by foreign diplomats visiting the State to explore investment opportunities.
“Nearly 40 foreign diplomats or high commissioners have met me over the past five years. They are attracted by our investor-friendly policies. They say these policies will propel Sabah towards a brighter future, and that is exactly what we are doing for Sabah,” he said.
Hajiji said existing industrial parks, particularly the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) and the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip), were nearing full capacity due to growing investor confidence.
He said the State Government is, therefore, expanding new industrial areas, including the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) on the east coast and industrial parks based on the blue economy.
On Kalabakan’s development, Hajiji said the State Government remained committed to developing the district in line with the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) roadmap.
He said economic development and the people’s wellbeing remained priorities, including the proposed development of the new Kalabakan Township on about 1,000 acres. Once implemented, the township would become the district’s new growth centre with various planned developments.
The Government was also improving Kalabakan’s infrastructure, including roads and the construction of a Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex that will serve as the entry point to Sabah from North Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The CM’s visit to Kalabakan was also to personally monitor the district’s progress to ensure its people would not be left behind in the Government’s development agenda.
