CONCERTED EFFORTS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN O&G INDUSTRY

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- All the oil and gas industry players need
to work together and coordinate a strategy to ensure that economic activities
within the oil and gas (O&G) sector do not diminish in the face of a worldwide
downturn, the Malaysian Oil & Gas Services Council (MOGSC) said.

"As the oil and gas industry is a major contributor to the economy,
investment and expenditure within the industry must not reduce but actually
grow," MOGSC's president, Sofiyan Yahya told reporters after delivering a paper
on the industry, here, Thursday.

Such investment will also take advantage of the current lower cost in
building-up the overall infrastructure in the industry, both domestic and
international, he added.

Sofiyan said any opportunities to acquire further international reserves
that are unable to be exploited by struggling operators must be taken advantage
of to further increase the nation's overall reserve-bank.

To further support the industry, he said the government must also undertake
steps to ensure banks free up their credit availability that have been pulled
in, in reaction to the worldwide financial crisis and expected recessionary
pressures.

"The government should even inject further liquidity in the market via its
money supply system if such capability is in hand," he said.

The oil and gas industry, especially the services industy within the
upstream (exploration and production) sector as managed overall by Petronas, is
the safest industry that the banking community can sustain its business
activities.

The industry has established proven track record of security of payments and
returns on investment.

Meanwhile, MOGSC's committee member, Shamsul Saad said the government should
take into consideration the development in the oil and gas industry under the
nation's next stimulus package.

"If possible to grow whatever activities that had already been planned so
far," he said.

He said MOGSC believed that together with all the stakeholders in the oil
and gas industry, such concerted efforts will not merely allow the industry to
weather the impact from the economic slowdown but also provide significant
advantages for the industry when the global economy is back on track.

-- BERNAMA