Tanjung Offshore should stay focussed on oil and gas: Tan

He went on to enumerate how the company had been expanding into property as well as mining, which was not related to its core business. "For instance, mining is a greenfield to Tanjung Offshore. They don’t have the expertise for mining. Why must the group go into that venture?” he told local media.

The group’s main operating subsidiary, Tanjung Offshore Services Sdn Bhd, is involved in providing comprehensive services to the O&G industry, namely engineering packages, products services and maintenance.In 2012, the group sold its core business of providing offshore support vessel business to Ekuiti Nasional Bhd and invested in non-related business, including property development after it acquired UK-based Wavenet Investments Ltd for MYR37.18m, cash. Its list of failed ventures also includes a chromite sand venture in the Philippines.Tan, who owns about 8% equity interest in Tanjung Offshore, said the company had a good future, provided it stayed on track with the O&G sector.

Asked if the venture into other sectors was part of the group’s effort to sustain its income amid falling oil prices, the veteran O&G player disagreed.“No O&G company is leaving the industry because of the oil price. In fact many are making more investment as it is an essential commodity,” he said, adding that Tanjung Offshore had core competencies in maintenance and enhanced oil recovery which it should exploit.“It is good enough for the group to go into this rather than venture into something that we don’t have any expertise at all,” he said.