Shamsuddin Amran, who heads the Bumiputera Economic Congress’s TVET cluster, said Sapura Energy plays a key role in the O&G ecosystem as it engages the services of more than 2,000 vendors.
He explained that Bumiputera TVET workers make up the largest portion of employees at these vendors, and would have been at risk of unemployment unless the government intervened.
“There is high demand for services in the oil and gas industry. Petronas and Shell require Sapura Energy’s services. The government wants to help save these jobs while helping to grow the sector, and that’s good,” he told FMT.
“If this cash injection is managed properly, the job opportunities for many Bumiputera workers will remain secure.”
Shamsuddin acknowledged the role played by Sapura Energy in developing a skilled workforce among the local population, with some workers going on to take up employment in the oil and gas sector abroad.
Since the introduction of its TVET initiative in 2019, the company has successfully trained hundreds of students at the Sapura Fabrication Training Centre in Lumut, equipping them with crucial industry knowledge and skills.
In June 2023, Sapura Energy entered into an agreement with the government which saw the company expand its TVET initiative to foster the development of a skilled workforce.
Meanwhile, Shamsuddin also hoped that Sapura Energy’s new management would make full use of the government’s fund injection to avoid repeating issues such as delayed payments to its vendors.
In a Bursa filing on March 11, Sapura Energy said the finance ministry, via its special purpose vehicle Malaysia Development Holding Sdn Bhd (MDH), would be subscribing to the company’s redeemable convertible loan stocks worth RM1.1 billion.
Last week, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), a significant shareholder of Sapura Energy, said the funds invested would be exclusively used to repay the O&G firm’s local vendors – most of which are small and medium enterprises involving approximately 59,000 workers.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also stressed that the RM1.1 billion cash injection was not intended as a bailout for the corporation or its top executives as alleged by certain parties.
Anwar also said the government had set several conditions, including requiring that Sapura Energy’s senior management step down, before approving the RM1.1 billion investment.