Toh Puan Norlidah RM Jasni (centre), Ron Aston (seventh left), Talisman Mount Kinabalu expedition team, invited guests and representatives from five NGOs during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house in Kota Kinabalu, yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Canada-based oil and gas company, Talisman Malaysia, is in Sabah to stay.
Seeing the vast potential here, its senior vice-president and country manager Ron Aston said they also realised that the Sabah blocks as an exciting new growth area.
“We have committed an investment plan of USD1 billion (about RM3.28 billion) towards the various operational activities in the state’s operations, both near and long terms.
“In Malaysia, we have been operating successfully for over 15 years with much growth to come. Our presence into Sabah began in 2009 when we were awarded offshore blocks SB309 and SB310 by Petronas with a 70 per cent interest.
“Talisman Malaysia now operates the Kinabalu field offshore Labuan after the operatorship transfer from another oil and gas company on December 26 last year,” said Aston during Talisman Malaysia Raya open house here, yesterday.
Wife of the Head of State Toh Puan Norlidah Datuk R M Jasni graced the event.
He however said it had not been just business for them in Talisman Malaysia as they also offered opportunities to Malaysian contractors and transferred technology to locals as part of the commitment to building the capacity of Malaysians.
“Our licence to operate comes from acting responsibly, working with the communities in which we operate, conducting safe operations and minimising the impact on the environment.
“We are fully committed to our corporate social responsibility principles,” he said, adding that CSR was carried out throughout Malaysia. He said this year would mark the first batch of six recipients receiving full scholarship for undergraduates and postgraduates at Universiti Malaysia Sabah UMS).
“We are collaborating with a technical training centre to help in capacity building of Sabahan youths with the aim of producing qualified technicians for ourselves and the oil and gas industry in general,” he said.
Among their CSR included the launching of Safety Campaign in April for some 2,500 primary pupils in Papar, Kuala Penyu, Beaufort, Sipitang and Labuan; entering partnership with Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society (SWCS) to fund their Handicrafting from Mangrove project.
Others were socio-economic programmes with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Pacos Trust to empower 90 single mothers from Bongawan through capacity building and creating a sustainable alternative income project, to mention some.
As part of their effort to give back to the community, nine of the Talisman Malaysia staff embarked on a project to scale Mount Kinabalu on Sept 4 to 7, and raise at least RM2,000 each to be distributed to five NGO centres in Sabah.