KOTA KINABALU: Sabah state-owned firms did not bid for the Mutiara Cluster oil and gas project off the state’s East coast because they lacked the necessary technical expertise and financial capacity to compete in an international bidding process, says Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

The 14-year production-sharing contract (PSC), part of the Malaysia Bid Round 2025, was awarded by PETRONAS to Dialog Group Bhd — a Peninsular Malaysia-based listed company — for the exploration of the Mutiara Cluster located in the Sandakan Basin.

“Exploration requires billions in capital. At this point, SIP (Sabah International Petroleum) and SMJ Energy are not yet qualified to take on such bidding because we lack the technical expertise,” he said.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Senallang) during the state assembly’s question-and-answer session on Tuesday (July 8).

Masidi stressed that Sabah’s non-involvement in this round of bidding does not mean the state is being excluded from the sector.

“But trust me — SMJ has its own involvement, which we will announce later,” he added.

He explained that Sabah’s participation in the oil and gas industry is guided by the Commercial Collaboration Agreement (CCA) with PETRONAS, which includes a joint committee to determine the extent of state involvement.

“So far, there is nothing that PETRONAS has given to Sarawak that it will not also give to Sabah,” he said.

Masidi also urged for a more realistic view of Sabah’s development, pointing out that Sarawak had a century-long head start.

“We are often compared with Sarawak, but their oil industry began over a hundred years ago. We are just starting out — we are crawling while they are already running,” he said.

Earlier, Shafie had raised concern over Sabah’s position in managing its own oil and gas resources, questioning why a lucrative offshore project near Sandakan was awarded to an outside firm.

“This is not about politics. This is about Sabah’s wealth,” said Shafie.

“We’ve fought for years to increase Sabah’s share from PETRONAS — and now, when an oil block right in our own waters is up for grabs, why aren’t our companies even at the table? SMJ and SIP should have been involved from the start.”

He said Sabah must adopt a firmer, clearer policy on resource ownership, similar to Sarawak.

“PETRONAS cannot just go around awarding our resources without engaging us directly. The state government must protect what belongs to Sabah,” he said.