Sarawak's oil wealth dispute could be ending

摘要

NEGOTIATIONS are under way in Malaysia that could help finally settle a long-running dispute between the federal government and the state of Sarawak about how to divide the wealth generated by the state's oil and gas output. Sarawak can date its commercial upstream history back to 1910, when Shell drilled the first onshore exploration well in the state. For around half the time since, there have been wrangles with the Malaysian government over how much Sarawak benefits from its oil and gas riches. In the mid-1970s, a Sarawak lawmaker noted that, despite Sarawak and the federal government having a "fairly good" relationship, there were conflicting views on ownership of the state's oil and gas reserves.