Abang Johari said the country would benefit from Sarawak’s progress in the oil and gas sector. He said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had understood the state’s perspective when agreeing on the state oil company Petros becoming the sole gas aggregator in Sarawak.

“I am thankful to him (Anwar). And we continue our efforts to manage fairly. We don’t want to kill Petronas, we want to work with them,” Dayak Daily quoted him as saying.

Two former national leaders had recently spoken about “destroying” or “killing” Petronas, as a result of a dispute between the federal and state governments over Sarawak’s rights over oil and gas.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said there were other ways to resolve Sarawak’s concerns without “destroying” Petronas, while Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin had said Putrajaya and Sarawak must not “kill” Petronas as they seek a solution to the dispute.

Last Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Anwar and Abang Johari had agreed to finalise key principles to support negotiations between Petronas and Petros.

Abang Johari said the agreement would include Petros being recognised as the sole aggregator while Sarawak increases its stake in liquefied natural gas through a commercial arrangement.