As one go towards the Brunei’s Sungai Tujuh Immigration Checkpoint, look on your LEFT and you will see that the forests have been taken out and the land flatted. The Sarawak contractors have strip the land of its forests (aka, timber) and they seemed to be planning to build something on the land. The fact that it’s so near our national boundary with there’s no fence to separate our two countries, and the fact that because of their activities, the forests on our side are also “dead,” really irritate me. Isn’t there some international agreement that near the national boundary there should not have structures at certain distance? I wonder if any of our officials are taking note? Shouldn’t we be worried at all?
This irritation came about recently when a Malaysian newspaper which was singing praises for Petronas, published the areas in Malaysia which still have or are exploring oil and gas, also included our country's Block K and J. The fact that both these Blocks are within Brunei terrority seemed to be ignored by the paper. Wasn't it Total Fina Elf which was given the right to explore Block J by the Brunei government? How come Petronas is claiming it?
.... While driving along the Mumong and Lumut highway, I wonder why the government does not develop the land? Why do I say the government, because most of the time, it’s the government which own the land and hence in order for the private sector or private individuals to develop the land, they need to get certain approval.
Why not develop the land along the dark highway? There’s demand for housing in Belait District and the fact that Belait is the biggest district in the country, there should be available land to meet the demand. Some have asked why not continue the National Housing Scheme’s Expo, where those who can pay for the house, can get it? Not only the government will get back its investment faster, but it can also teach its citizens’ the virtue of working hard and paying for what you want, instead of getting things free. Because of the many bad “apples” who did not pay their houses in the various housing schemes, its no wonder that the Housing Board is slow in giving new houses or lands to people who applied for it. In our neighbouring country, we see that it’s the private sector which are involved in build thousands of houses in such a short time and selling it at quite a reasonable prices. Would any private sector in Brunei be given such project to do?
What is the alternative? If one flies over Brunei, one can see that Brunei is still heavily forested. I’m not advocating for total destruction of the forest, but Brunei need to develop the country away from existing area, as its congested and the fact that there are demand for housing; it’s a good idea to gazette more lands for such projects. More interior lands can be developed and in the case of the Mumong – Seria highway, the place wouldn’t be that spooky as it is now.
1 comment:
Two new onshore oil blocks awarded
By M K Anwar
Brunei National Petroleum Company Sendirian Berhad (PetroleumBRUNEI) yesterday announced the successful bidders of two onshore blocks, including a consortium comprising QAF Brunei Sdn Bhd and Loon Energy Inc.
The Loon Energy Inc. and QAF Brunei Sdn Bhd consortium has been awarded the tender for Onshore Block 'L', which covers an area of 2,253 square kilometres. The block occupies the whole of Brunei-Muara District and parts of Tutong and Temburong Districts.
Meanwhile, another consortium involving China Oil USA (Macao) Company Ltd (ChinaOil), Valiant International Petroleum Ltd and Jana Corporation Sdn Bhd has been awarded Onshore Block 'M'.
The Onshore Block M comprises a single contiguous area occupying 3,011 square kilometres located in the western part of Brunei covering most of Belait District, but excluding the coastal area demarcated around Brunei Shell Petroleum Company's onshore concession area.
The two onshore blocks were officially launched in August last year and was hailed as another indication of the continuous effort of the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam to provide the necessary element to fuel the economic development of the nation.
The Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office, Pehin Dato Awg Hj Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Hj Bakar, speaking on the launching of Onshore Blocks 'L' and 'M' back in August, said the event was a continuation of a series of programmes to tender out areas for oil exploration and production that began in 2001 with deep water blocks 'J' and 'K'.
A huge portion of both Block 'L' and 'M' areas remain unexplored where in Block 'L', a few exploration wells had been drilled and hydrocarbon indications were evident in the underlying reservoir.
A number of exploration wells were drilled with the discovery of Jerudong Oil field in Block 'L' where more than 600,000 barrels of oil were produced between 1955 and 1962.
Block M has been explored since the beginning of this century with the first successful well, Belait-2, yielding 33,000 barrels of oil between 1924 and 1931. Many of these wells, Belait 11-14 and Belait 15-18, were drilled in Talingan area and indicated good oil and gas reservoirs.
It is hoped that the two onshore blocks would bring with them the prospect of increasing the nation's oil and gas reserves, the potential for greater employment opportunities and for the oil company to design taking into consideration their concerns for reasonable returns on investment.
PetroleumBRUNEI in its press statement yesterday said the successful bidders of the tender will conduct petroleum exploration and development activities on the blocks under a production-sharing contract (PSC) with PetroleumBRUNEI.
It added that the awards are subject to finalisation and execution of a PSC and compliance with other terms and conditions as required by PetroleumBRUNEI. - Borneo Bulletin (7th Feb 2006)
Post a Comment