KUALA LUMPUR: Bagan Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng called on the government to carefully consider any plans to list Petronas via initial public offering (IPO).

Lim, who is also the former finance minister, said Petronas was a national treasure where the public listing of Petronas' shares must be returned to the people, especially petroleum producing states.

"We must be careful because Petronas must be 100 per cent owned by Malaysia because if we lose ownership it will affect the country's strategic reserves.

"More importantly, we cannot replace the national treasure with any other of the country's resources so I agree with the Titiwangsa MP on this matter," he told Dewan Rakyat during his debate on the 2023 Budget here, today.

Lim was replying to Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani (BN-Titiwangsa) when the latter interjected and asked if Lim agreed that the listing of Petronas's shares could affect the nation's income in the long term.

He said the government should settle its debts and not depend on Petronas.

"Whether the public listing of 20 per cent of Petronas' shares will raise funds of RM300 billion or enable Petronas to gain RM60 billion in revenue is debatable given that a similar IPO by Saudi Arabian oil and gas company, Aramco appeared to be less successful," he said.

On Feb 14, Subang MP Wong Chen had proposed to the government to conduct a feasibility study for an IPO for Petronas.

He said the public listing of Petronas on Bursa Malaysia would help in reducing the national debt, ensure more financial transparency and better governance for the oil and gas company, as well as improve overall fiscal revenue for the government.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2023/02/884050/careful-ipo-plan-petronas-says-guan-eng