The seminar was opened by Encik Muhamad Umar Swift, Executive Vice President and Head of Enterprise Financial Services Group of Maybank. The President of MOGSC, Tengku Dato’ Ibrahim Petra bin Tengku Indra Petra also delivered an address during the opening.

"The oil and gas services sector is an important support sector for both upstream and downstream activities of the local petroleum industry. The sector incorporates both large corporations as well as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with varying degree of investments depending on the type of services offered. The aim of the seminar is to create awareness of the type of financial instruments and facilities offered by financial institutions which they can tap on to suit their business needs," said Encik Umar in his opening address.

The seminar introduced participants to the various options for capital or operational efficiency among them debt capital market, hedging instruments, structuring of corporate loans, trade financing, as well as Islamic financing options and electronic cash management system.

"The seminar will also enable us to understand the sector’s needs and identify specific facilities as well as customised solutions for them. This relationship will also bring about overall savings and other benefits for both the financer and borrower," added Encik Umar.

Meanwhile, Tengku Dato’ Ibrahim Petra acknowledged that the Seminar was an opportune moment for the Maybank Group to provide MOGSC members a range of financial network services when the oil & gas industry was experiencing robust growth.

"It is timely as most service companies are currently building on their resource capabilities to expand the scope of services and leverage on new business opportunities in the oil & gas industry both locally and abroad," he said.

With strong financial support, the MOGSC will be able to achieve two main objectives, which are:

"Providing a financial platform for service providers venturing abroad, and

"Providing financial support for companies in the expansion of their products and services in the domestic market at both the upstream and downstream sectors.

"The "upswing" experienced since 2002 has generated tremendous interest in the services sector, and it is critical that service providers take advantage of the facilities offered so as to excel in their respective areas of business specialties. This will be in line with the current vibrant outlook of the oil and gas industry, which is expected to remain strong for the next five to seven years," he added.

Tengku also said that the sustained growth of the industry in the country would be supported by a number of factors such as significant oil finds, the vast amounts of ‘undiscovered recoverable oil reserves’, PETRONAS’ emphasis on further developing the domestic oil & gas reserves and higher crude oil prices.

"Inevitably, these initiatives would spur continued development both at the upstream and downstream sectors," Tengku concluded.

Maybank Group sponsors seminars for various sectors as part of its business relationship strategy to update its customers of the financial landscape and its impact on the respective sectors. The present seminar also touched on the liberalisation of foreign exchange and the outlook and perspectives of the Malaysian economy with focus on the oil & gas sector. Maybank Group’s outstanding total loans to the oil & gas sector as at end February 2005 amounts to RM1.3 billion.

The Malaysian Oil & Gas Services Council ("MOGSC"), mooted by the Cost Reduction alliance or CORAL, was formed on 1 December 2003 to showcase the capabilities and expertise as well as spearhead the development of PETRONAS-registered oil & gas service companies.