A Plea To Cm Hajiji Stop Shell S Move To Miri

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Shell’s announcement on Oct 15 that the Plaza Shell office in Kota Kinabalu would be closed, with a relocation of all Sabah staff to Miri next year, was met with silence.
The Kota Kinabalu office was set up in November 2015 with promises of Shell’s significance presence, strategic partnership and offer of measurable progress for the state. This change of commitments, a sad truth on the change of events, draws much reservation, suspicion and unveils broken promises from Shell to the state, its people and communities.
The well established and progressive 200 Shell staff, occupying four floors of the 14-storey Plaza Shell, a distinguished landmark in Kota Kinabalu located strategically in the city’s business district may see the last of its pivotal presence very soon. Their lives, sadly, may never be the same again.
The O&G entity in Sabah comes under Sabah Shell Petroleum Company which is a separate entity from Sarawak Shell Bhd.
Sabah Shell manages all Sabah platforms and handles Malaysia’s largest and only deepwater oil rigs consisting of Gumusut-Kakap and Malikai. The Gumusut-Kakap rig produces 150,000 barrels of oil daily while Malikai produces 65,000 barrels per day.
With such massive daily production capacity, Shell’s presence lends very significant importance to the state’s economical, social, technological and political well-being and especially as a business entity in the O&G sector.
The multi-faceted importance that arises with its existing presence offers far-reaching benefits and opportunities to Sabahans. With such significant contribution from the state, it is unprecedented for Shell to move out of Sabah and leave the state, its people and large array of stakeholders in such a distress state and at a disadvantage.
With grievous impact expected from this untimely move and the demise of Sabah O&G’s importance to the local community, this call is made to Chief Minister Hajiji Noor to seriously question the change of promises by Shell to the state, and their decision to close office and move to Miri, Sarawak.
The justifications as to why Shell should continue to stay in Sabah are as follows:
Both deepwater oil rigs, being the country’s only and largest are in Sabah waters.These oil rigs generate huge revenue for Shell and gross domestic product (GDP) for Sabah.A sizeable number of Sabahans are engaged with Shell, with families in Sabah.Technological, social, economic and other benefits would be compromised and lost forever with the move out of the state.Severe disruption of O&G supply chain provided by more than 200 local vendors who would lose in business opportunity once moved out of the state directly benefiting Sarawakians instead.The move will cost a potential loss of business to the tune of RM40 million and hit hard on some 3,000-local workforce.Indirect cost of loss of property rent, investments, services, hospitality and ensuing services will be humongous to the tune of RM24 million per year.Sabahans are required to apply for Sarawak Work Permit placing them at a disadvantage and precarious position with possible rejection from the local authority as preference is always for locals to fill such essential posts.Sabah needs to safeguard its MA63 rights with resources tapped for the benefits of Sabahans.Shell’s reasons for moving out are ill-supported and lack solid justifications.Sabah should not continue to be taken advantage of its limited resources again and again. Why are we allowing it to happen?It is an opportune time, and with the mandate given to you by Sabahans in the recent election, we make this desperate call to the chief minister to exercise his wisdom and exert timely intervention against such an unprecedented decision by the Sabah Shell Petroleum Company to move log, stock and barrel out of the state.
With the deepwater oil rigs still positioned in Sabah’s waters it is our sovereign right to safeguard our resources and ensure our interests are not unduly and unfairly exploited. Our soul, our people and our beloved state must be protected. It is our very right to do so.
Save the state, save our people, save our oil and gas. We have faith in you, chief minister. We await your say on this pressing issue. You are the only one who can provide a justifiable answer and ensure that the Shell presence stays in Sabah. On behalf of the Sabah O&G community we thank you and look forward to a discernible response.
O&G community of Shell Sabah is made up of concerned Sabahans who only want the best for the people and state. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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