Petronas will continue to recruit, rotate, develop and promote employees based on their performance and qualities, said its President and Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.

He said this was because Petronas aimed to have a high performing culture driven by meritocracy and yet remain committed to empower societal growth wherever it operated.

He said this at a special Malaysia Day gathering of Petronas employees in Sarawak with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem at the Civic Centre here today.

"We need to create a sustainable pool of talent not just for Petronas but for the (oil and gas) industry and the nation as a whole.

On Sarawak, he said more than 5,000 local students and 15 educational institutions had benefited from Petronas' contributions to education and human capital development.

He added that the oil giant would continue to empower lives via education, community development and environmental conservation and that RM470million had been budgeted for this from 2015 to 2019 which included building a new MRSM college here.

Recently, Petronas faced some staffing problems in Sarawak when some employees were denied work permits but the matter was later amicably resolved.

On another matter, Wan Zulkiflee said that in Sarawak, the national oil corporation would give priority to local vendors whereby about 400 Sarawakians companies were licensed with it and about RM7 billion worth of jobs had been awarded to Sarawakian companies since 2013.

"We are proud too that more than 3,800 or 75 per cent of our employees in our Sarawak operations are Sarawakians.

"Close to another 1,000 of our Sarawakian employees are holding various positions outside the state which includes Petronas' global operations," he said.

On its role to protect and preserve the natural environment for future generations, Wan Zulkiflee said Petronas had invested a total sum of RM4.7 million over three years for the deployment of reef balls to improve marine life in the waters off the Similajau National Park here under its Petronas MLNG's BEACON project.

Wan Zulkiflee added that Petronas would continue to discuss with the state and federal governments over any issues that arose. -- Bernama