‘60pc of consultants hired by Petronas are locals’
A TOTAL of 108 companies have secured contracts worth about RM9 billion from Petronas’ vendor development programme (VDP) up to October.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said VDP was among initiatives taken by Petronas to ensure more local vendors and consultants could participate competitively in the oil and gas industry.
“Between January and August, over 60 per cent consultants hired by Petronas in the oil and gas sector were local companies,” he told Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin) during Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Hasan had asked the ministry to state the number of international consultants hired by Petronas following complaints by local players that they were not given the chance and trust to carry out similar work.
Azmin said for specific and technical working scopes like engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning, and digital and technological proprietary, there was a dearth of local expertise and this required outsourcing.
“For instance, seismic deep water acquisition services technology is limited to global companies.
“As such, the expertise is not provided by local consultants and cannot be developed within a short period by Petronas.
“Only four global firms provide seismic deep water acquisition services in the world.
“Petronas appointed the international consultants and vendors to ensure the sustainability of the projects and its goals are achieved.”
He said Petronas was committed to developing local talent.
“For instance, in the exploration and production of oil and gas by Petronas in Turkmenistan and Myanmar, there were limited expertise in the countries. These allowed Malaysian consultants to be involved.”