Ex-Petronas chief to helm Singapore power giant (PICS)

Hassan has gone on to join the boards of several Singapore energy firms since leaving Petronas. — Picture courtesy of Sembcorp

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Ex-Petronas CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican is set to become chairman of Singapore Power Limited (SP) in June succeeding Ng Kee Choe who will retire on June 12, according to Energy Asia.

The news portal that focuses on the energy industry reported this yesterday, citing the island republic’s utility giant.

Marican, who left the national oil company at the beginning of 2010 allegedly due to friction with the Najib administration, has been accepting directorships with several foreign firms in the energy sector.

Among them are Singapore government-linked companies including SembCorp Industries Limited, SembCorp Marine Limited and Singapore Power, which he joined on February 15, 2011. He is also a director at Sarawak Energy Berhad and US oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips.

Marican, 58, was part of the board that had appeared to have clashed with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak back in late 2009 over the appointment of a former senior aide as a Petronas director despite the prime minister having absolute powers in board appointments.

It was reported then that the former aide, Omar Mustapaha, was rejected twice and later appointed only after Najib had put his foot down.

Picture on 2009 Tan Sri Hassan Marican give a speech

Petronas had also decided not to sponsor the Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 Racing team, going instead with the Mercedes Formula One team.

Marican was widely credited with turning Petronas into the only other state-run major international player in the oil and gas space apart from Norway’s Statoil.

The former Petronas chief, who stepped down on February 2010 after 15 years with the company, was appointed a director with Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries in June of the year.

Marican’s flurry of overseas appointments also comes at a time when Malaysia is grappling with a chronic brain drain that threatens to derail its ambitions to become a developed country.