In the weeks since Offshore Energy Asia 2026 (OEA 2026) closed at Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu, the conversation it convened has carried into the national business press. In its 5 August edition, the Daily Express led its Business section with “More offshore energy investment for Sabah,” reporting on the case the State made to industry at the two-day conference organised by ApexOne with Ezra & Macquarie.
At the heart of the coverage was Sabah’s State Assistant Minister of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport, YB Datuk Dr. Jonnybone J. Kurum, who addressed delegates as Luncheon Guest of Honour at the VIP Luncheon on Corporate & Strategic Engagement held in conjunction with the conference. His invitation was direct: that Sabah is ready to welcome more offshore energy investment as it strengthens its position as a regional hub for floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG), carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and offshore renewable energy.
“Sabah sits along some of the most strategically important waters in Southeast Asia — deep-water basins holding proven and prospective reserves, and long coastlines ideally suited to floating production, storage, and offshore renewable infrastructure,” he said, pointing to advantages he described as “largely untapped.” The State’s waters, he noted, “already host world-class FPSO and FLNG operations.”
A promise of certainty
Central to the minister’s pitch was a promise of reliability. “We have built — and we continue to strengthen — a coordinated approach between state and federal authorities, designed specifically so that serious investors are never left waiting,” he said, citing close cooperation with Petronas, Sabah International Petroleum and federal agencies to speed responsible energy development.
Resources attract investors. Reliability keeps them. That is the model Sabah is building.
The Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) 2.0 roadmap for 2026–2030, he said, places industrial development, entrepreneurship and sustainable energy at the core of the State’s economic agenda, with investor engagement handled as a whole-of-government effort. He also underlined Sabah’s local-content commitment — a policy that at least 80 per cent of the workforce on new investment projects comprise Sabahans — alongside job-matching, upskilling and certification programmes developed with SOCSO and industry partners. “We want the companies that invest here to grow together with Sabah people, and this commitment runs both ways,” he said.
A platform where dialogue becomes direction
That an investment message could travel from a conference luncheon to the national business front page speaks to what OEA is built to do. Held for the third year under the theme Integrating Floating Energy Solutions for the New Energy Transition Era, the 2026 edition brought together operators, investors, regulators and technology leaders from across the region — covering ground from FLNG, CCUS and project bankability and insurance to engineering and construction excellence. The result is a platform where dialogue becomes direction, and where two days in Kota Kinabalu continue to generate momentum well after the sessions close.
ApexOne and Ezra & Macquarie extend their thanks to the Sabah State Government, and to the speakers, sponsors, partners and delegates who made the third edition of Offshore Energy Asia what it was. The conversation, clearly, is only continuing.
Interested in future editions, or in speaking or sponsoring? Talk to us or explore our conference platforms.
Source: Hayati Dzulkifli, “More offshore energy investment for Sabah,” Daily Express (Business, p.9), 5 August 2026. Read the article →