Little known local company PanelPoint Sdn Bhd faced a hostile press today after announcing it would form a consortium to develop an 8000km gas pipeline linking Asean countries, including Malaysia, with China, in a deal it claimed was worth US$100 billion.
Skeptical reporters pressed on but received little information about how the company intended to fund what it called the Trans-Asian Oil and Gas (TOAG) Pipeline.
The company also said it had received the “blessing” of the prime minister in black-and-white, but did not show any document.
“Talking about the financials, we try and put it on a very low profile... because we don’t want to reveal so much,” PanelPoint president and chief executive Che Nordin Ismail told reporters after the announcement at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel here this afternoon.
He also said PanelPoint has spent “quite a lot of money” so far pursuing the project, which has been in the works for seven years, but declined to specify an amount.
TOAG, the region’s first natural gas pipeline network, will link Mersing with Jakarta, the Northern Natuna Islands, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Guangzhou and Hong Kong upon completion.
Gas, mainly from Indonesia, will be routed through the 8000-kilometre pipeline to buyers in energy-hungry China when it is completed in 10 years, the company said.
TOAG will be built by a consortium comprising Hubei Weiguang Municipal Gas Investment and Development Co Ltd, PWS Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, the Malay Contractors Association of Malaysia (PKMM), Asia Bolts and Nuts Group, Lotus Action Sdn Bhd and Techknow Industrial Sdn Bhd.
Funding for the project will come from US-based Rochester Foundation Inc, whose chairman, Robert Smith Sr, is also a partner in PanelPoint.
A search with the Companies Commission of Malaysia shows that PanelPoint has a paid up capital of RM100,000.
Che Nordin said the company has entered talks with the Vietnamese government and potential gas buyers in China over the pipeline but admitted that no formal agreement has been signed with any government.
But he stressed that PanelPoint has already secured an agreement in principle from Vietnam based on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two in 2005 to develop the oil and gas industry in the Southeast Asian nation.
“Our agreements with Vietnam are still valid until now. It’s just a matter of following up with the agreements and details of the work,” he said.
Che Nordin also said PanelPoint has not entered into any talks with potential gas suppliers but intends to begin official discussions with state oil firm Petronas in two months.
