Aborted LNG project in Canada another financial blow for M’sia – Baru

KUCHING: The cancellation of Petronas Pacific Northwest liquefied natural gas ( LNG) project is another financial blow for Malaysia, said state PKR chairman Baru Bian.

“As if Malaysia does not have enough financial losses from the 1MDB fiasco, we recently heard that Petronas is not going ahead with the US$ 29 billion Pacific Northwest LNG project.

“The losses incurred by 1MDB were estimated by the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism ( C4) to be RM39 billion. The project cost of US$ 29 billion is far greater than RM39 billion. The question to be asked here is how much Petronas has lost in the aborted LNG project in Canada?” he said in a press conference at PKR state headquarters here yesterday.

“Why did Petronas make the decision to invest in Canada in the first place without taking into consideration all factors including opposition to the project by the indigenous community, environmentalists and local politicians, and the possible change of government together with the stringent conditions placed by the Canadian government?”

Baru said the money that Petronas “so carelessly throws into these overseas projects” belongs to the people, and most likely a large part of it comes from Sarawak and Sabah’s resources.

“There needs to be more accountability from the board of Petronas than the short statement they released last week.”

He said it is shocking and disappointing that news of such a huge failure is taken so lightly, with no questions asked.

“What has happened is but a symptom of what ails Malaysia – the lack of competency, accountability and transparency. This is why we have been calling for Petronas to be accountable to Parliament instead of to the Prime Minister as it is today.”

Baru said: “On our part, the Sarawak government must first take measures to claim our rightful share in our natural resources and achieve meaningful participation in the oil and gas (O& G) industry.

“The losses incurred by bad investment decision by decision makers in Twin Towers must not be repeated. We urge Petronas to provide full disclosure of the money lost in this project.”