KUCHING: Sarawak will "call the final shot" on any arrangements related to carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) within the state's territory, said Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
Sarawak, Abang Johari said, will adopt its own approach to managing CCUS implementation.
This position, he added, was conveyed to Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli during a meeting here yesterday.
The meeting also agreed to harmonise state and federal laws related to CCUS implementation.
"As far as Sarawak is concerned, the storage of carbon on land within our offshore, it is to be managed by Petros, to the resource manager," he said last night, referring to state-owned oil and gas company Petroleum Sarawak Bhd .
Speaking at Petros' seventh anniversary dinner, however, he said the state government will work together with the federal government in respect of cross-border transportation of CCUS of carbon.
"We also looked at the arrangement between Belgium, Fanders and Denmark," he said, referring to an arrangement on how cross-border transportation of CO2 can be done under the London Protocol.
"We also raised the precedent between the United Kingdom and Scotland where storing of carbon within the North Sea area under the jurisdiction of Scotland, " he said.
He said based on that, Sarawak will have a similar arrangement where it will be part and a party to any arrangement between the federal government and other parties.
Abang Johari said that since its formation, Petros has established
itself as the third largest oil and gas equity producer in Malaysia.
He said the growth has been driven by the organisation's strategic focus of scaling up its upstream activities.
The premier said that onshore, Petros continues to demonstrate
its commitment to rejuvenating exploration efforts.
"As the onshore exploration and production regulator for the SK433 Block,Petros is driving the early commercialisation of offshore oil and gas discoveries for Sarawak," he said.
Rafizi, after a meeting with Abang Johari and state cabinet ministers, had said that they discussed a proposed bill related to carbon trading.
Rafizi said the discussions focused on how to harmonise state and federal laws before the federal bill is presented at the end of this year
.He added it was to ensure that both Sarawak and Malaysia (federal government) can implement CCUS as quickly as possible according to the established plan, and that the process continues smoothly.
Rafizi said he took comfort in knowing that everyone is on board to ensure the success of Malaysia's progress, as CCUS is one of the high-tech activities driving this leap forward to the future.