Sabah’s natural gas to fuel growth of local industries

KOTA KINABALU (Bernama) — Sabah, with over 12 trillion cu ft of gas reserves, is able to fuel the growth of various industries, including the larger ones, over a few decades, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai.

He said the active promotion of natural gas usage, a much cheaper and environmentally-friendlier alternative fuel, was in line with the government’s five-fuel policy, thus avoiding over-dependence on a single energy source.

“On average, a 1,000-megawatt (MW) gas-fired combine cycle power plant requires 1.1 trillion cu ft of gas over a period of 25 years.

“The total capacity of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd is 866.4 MW. You can work out the scale and magnitude of what the little reserves we have can do for us,” he said at a talk on “Alternative Energy Source — Compressed Natural Gas” here yesterday.

The talk is jointly organised by Sabah Energy Corp Sdn Bhd (SEC), Institution of Engineers Malaysia and Aspek Erajuta Sdn Bhd here.

SEC is a government-linked company entrusted with the distribution of natural gas to local industrial and commercial users in Sabah and Labuan.

Yee, who is also State Minister of Resources Development and Information Technology, said SEC has embarked on an innovative way to bring natural gas to the small and medium enterprises through the virtual pipeline system.

“By converting your energy source to natural gas, not only will it improve your bottom line, you will also contribute directly towards a cleaner and healthier environment,” he said.