The Sabah State Government wants more youths to join the oil and gas industry in line with its efforts to develop the industry in the sector, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor

He also wants TAS Institute of Oil and Gas (TAS), which is now in its 14th year of establishment, to play a role in continuing to produce a trained and efficient technical workforce to work in the industry, especially in Sabah.

“Last year, Sabah recorded a historic success with the establishment of our state-owned oil and gas company known as SMJ Sdn Bhd, as a result of the Commercial Cooperation Agreement (CCA) signed with Petronas.

“We greatly appreciate the cooperation with Petronas through CCA, marking the first step in ensuring that the people of Sabah will enjoy the fruits of its resources. This means greater involvement for Sabah in the upstream petroleum business, as well as in the intermediate and downstream oil and gas business.

“Together with Petronas in this effort, it will increase the participation of the state of Sabah in the oil and gas industry and its value chain.

“I share the desire to see Sabah’s oil, gas and energy resources benefit from the development of the state. Together with the people, Sabah has fought for a fair solution to benefit these resources,” he said during the launch of TAS 10th Graduation at the auditorium of Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) on Saturday.

A total of 90 students received the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) Advanced Diploma in Engineering Operations.

While expressing happiness that TAS is one of the institutions that plays an important role in helping to shape Sabahan youths in the oil and gas industry, Hajiji wants TAS to meet the skilled resources needed in the industry.

“I hope that TAS will continue to produce trained and efficient technical workforce. Their focus on building and developing local human capital is commendable and should be emulated by other training institutions.

“Congratulations to TAS and SEQU-TAS for not only establishing and operating a training center to train the local people of Sabah but also an integrated training center to complete the human capital and training needs in the industry,” he added.

A total of 1,700 Sabah graduates have been successfully trained and obtained a BTEC Advanced Diploma in Engineering Operations from TAS.

Hajiji also expressed his happiness to know that there are trainees among the B40 group who have been employed by national oil companies as well as abroad.

“With their qualification obtained from TAS, many Sabahan youths from B40 group now not only manage to improve their family’s standard of living but are also able to finance the education of their siblings. I was also told that those who have completed their studies earn between RM8,000 to RM25,000 a month after five to 10 years of work.

“In line with the focus of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) government on key sectors in the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) development plan to drive the recovery of economic growth, our emphasis is also to encourage the second core of this direction which is to increase the development of human capital and people’s well-being in Budget 2022,” he said.

Also present were the patron of TAS, Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah and Sequ-Tas Offshore Safety Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Ismail Abdullah.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by THE BORNEO POST

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]