Move fast or lose out: Serembu rep urges Sarawak to accelerate CCUS dev’t or risk investors turning to Peninsular

Dato Miro Simuh photographed during Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) sitting on Nov 28, 2025. Photo credit: Sarawak Information Department (Japen)

By Shikin Louis

KUCHING, Nov 28: Sarawak cannot afford to move slowly on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) development or risk losing investors to other regions including Peninsular Malaysia, says Serembu assemblyman Dato Miro Simuh.

Debating the Sarawak Budget 2026 in the august House today, Miro said Sarawak sits on more than 3 trillion tonnes of potential CO₂ storage capacity in offshore geological formations—a massive competitive advantage that must be capitalised on without delay.

“Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS), who is the resource manager for the development of carbon storage sites, has already identified foreign partners to develop such sites.

“Effort should be made to facilitate studies by PETROS on abandoned petroleum sites to establish secured storage sites for the safe and permanent sequestration of CO₂.

“Delay in implementing CCUS projects in Sarawak means potential investors and users of such storage sites from Singapore, Japan, Korea and Australia, or any potential client, will look for other alternatives including in Peninsular Malaysia which now have their own legislation,” he said.

He noted that while the federal Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage Act 2025, passed earlier this year, only applies to Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan, Sarawak currently relies on its own Land (Carbon Storage) Rules 2023 to regulate onshore, offshore and even transboundary CO₂ storage.

Miro added that applying carbon capture and storage technologies to handle CO₂-rich gas will unlock the economic potential of the vast natural gas reserves off western Sarawak which currently remain untapped due to high CO₂ content.

“The gas, when available, will enable Sarawak to develop our Low Carbon Gas Hub in Kuching and accelerate economic growth for the State.

“Therefore, there is an urgent need to hasten the development of carbon storage sites, especially in offshore areas of Sarawak.

“I hope the ministry in charge will look into this matter seriously and create another reengineering revenue stream for Sarawak in the future,” he added. – DayakDaily