Firm holds get-together with media
KOTA KINABALU: About 100 members of the media fraternity in Sabah turned up for Repsol Oil and Gas Malaysia Limited's gathering with media practitioners here yesterday.
Stakeholder Relations Manager, Repsol Oil and Gas Malaysia Limited, Ahmad Fakhrurrazi Arshad said he was pleased to note the overwhelming response to the first ever get-together which is aimed at building and strengthening the company's existing good relationship and networking with the media.
The half-day event was made interesting with a host of games and activities as well as lucky draws for members of the media comprising those from the Sabah Journalist Association (SJA) and Kota Kinabalu Journalist Association (KKJA).
Overall winner of the day was Red Team, followed by Green Team, Chocolate Team and Blue Team. All the prizes were sponsored by Repsol.
Ahmad in his welcoming speech said that in Malaysia, Repsol is focused only on the upstream business and disclosed that it is a contractor to Petronas and a joint venture partner of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd to develop and grow the oil and gas industry in Malaysia.
“Currently we operate the PM3 Commercial Agreement area (PM3 CAA) that straddles the Malaysia-Vietnam border, the PM-305 and PM-314 Blocks in Peninsular Malaysia since 2001 and the Kinabalu Oil Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in Sabah since 2012,” he disclosed.
According to him, 2017 represented a milestone year for their operations offshore Sabah when the company installed a new production facility next to its current producing platform, Kinabalu.
“This additional installation will see an increase in our production in Sabah to some 18,000 barrels per day of crude oil. At the same time Repsol will continue drill potential wells in our block, SB309 to find new prospects in expanding our business operations in Sabah.
“While we are focused on our business growth in Malaysia, we are equally passionate about giving back to the local community in which we operate. We take our responsibilities as a good corporate citizen seriously and actively organise programs with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan.
“Our community investment programmes focus on four main themes - education, safety, health and capacity building. We are happy to report that these programmes have benefited thousands of Malaysians. As an example, over 7,500 primary schoolchildren from Sabah and Labuan benefited from the personal safety awareness programmes which we initiated since 2013,” Ahmad said.
He added that over the years, Repsol had sponsored over 20 scholars from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to enable them to pursue engineering courses under its focus on education.
Another of Repsol's commitment towards education is the annual motivational awards in the form of once-off cash aid for the lessfortunate children from among the fishermen community in Labuan who did well in their UPSR and PT3 examinations.
“After two years, we are glad to hear that many of the recipients whose lives we touched have started to show improvements in their schoolwork and doing well in the extra-curricular activities.
“Since 2013, we have worked with the Sabah Thalassaemia Society and the Health Department to conduct awareness forums and healthy lifestyle seminars among the Thalassaemia patients, family members as well as members of the public in the most affected parts of Sabah.
“In our capacity building programmes, 80 single mothers from Bongawan district were trained on the commercial production of salted eggs in 2014. Another 60 rural women from Tambunan district were similarly trained to acquire beadmaking and traditional weaving skills,” he disclosed.
These two programmes, conducted in collaboration with NGOs, were designed as a complement towards the government's concerted effort in building new capacities to enable less-fortunate womenfolk to earn a sustainable income in supporting their families, he pointed out.
Also present were SJA President Muguntan Vanar and KKJA President Yong Ted Phin.