15 minutes
KUALA LUMPUR: Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said 60% of consultants hired by Petronas as of August this year were locals.
He said Petronas has only a handful of local experts in seismic deep water acquisition services.
“The foreigners were hired for their specialised skills in engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning, and their knowledge of proprietary technology and ICT,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
“We have to get experts from outside because local expertise in these fields is limited,” he added.
Azmin was responding to Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin) who wanted to know the number of foreign consultants and their areas of expertise.
Hasan said local consultants in the oil and gas industry were complaining that they had been overlooked.
To this, Azmin said as of now, only four global firms provide seismic deep water acquisition services.
He also pointed out that Petronas hires local vendors through Vendor Development Programme (VDP).
“The ministry can assure you that Petronas is committed to developing local talents,” he said.
Under Petronas’ VDP Innovation and Technology scheme, 108 local companies have benefited from a contract worth RM9 billion.
Four VDP companies have since been listed on Bursa Malaysia while 30 VDP firms have operations overseas.
Local companies are also involved in Petronas’ exploration and production activities in countries such as Turkmenistan and Myanmar where local infrastructure and expertise remain limited.
“This opens up opportunities for Malaysian consultants and vendors to explore new markets,” Azmin said.
He said of the 30 VDP firms with operations outside the country, 17 were in Asia, eight in the Middle East, two in North America, and one each in South America, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
