KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 108 local companies have reaped contracts worth about RM9bil from Petronas’ vendor development programme (VDP), as of October this year.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said the VDP programme was among various initiatives taken by Petronas to ensure more local vendors and consultants can participate competitively in the oil and gas industry.
“Between January and August this year, over 60 per cent of 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 Dewan Rakyat today.
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.
According to Azmin, for specific and technical working scopes like engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC), digital and technological proprietary (ICT) there was still a dearth of local expertise which required outsourcing.
“For instance, seismic deep water acquisition services technology is limited to global companies, as such expertise is not provided by local consultants and cannot be developed within a short period of time 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 critical objectives are achieved,” added Azmin.
He assured that Petronas was committed to developing local talents.
“For instance, in the exploration and production of oil and gas by Petronas in Turkmenistan and Myanmar, there was limited expertise in the countries. These allowed Malaysian consultants to be involved,” said Azmin.