25 August, 2017
Second quarter net profit for Malaysian state-owned oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, quadrupled from a year ago as oil prices rose and margins improved, the company said on Friday.
"Our earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and ammortisation increased to RM45 billion from RM34 billion from the first half of a year ago, due to higher average realised prices", he told reporters after announcing the company's first-half financial results here today.
The energy firm's second-quarter profit rose to RM7.06 billion (S$2.2 billion) from RM1.68 billion in the corresponding quarter previous year.
Petronas, Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company, will pay the government 16 billion ringgit this year up from its earlier commitment of 13 billion ringgit, said Wan Zulkiflee.
Petronas is recovering from the slide in oil prices over the past two years and is looking for new ways to boost revenue after cutting costs.
Revenue rose to RM108.1 billion from RM93.7 billion previously, benefiting from the upward trend of key benchmark prices and foreign exchange rate but was partially offset by lower sales volume, president and group chief executive officer Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said.
"We're tempering our optimism as far as industry outlook is concerned, but focused on making our integrated oil and gas value chain work for us in this volatile time", he said when announcing Petronas' financial results here this morning.
"The price of oil today, at around US$50 per barrel, this is the level we must take as the norm", said Mr Wan Zulkiflee.
"The total impact of this decision on Petronas' finances was RM1.5 billion net of tax, which includes an RM0.7 billion impairment, while the rest was the estimated termination costs due to TransCanada for the construction of a pipeline that was integral to the project". It has also saved 7 billion ringgit from other cost optimisation efforts, Wan Zulkiflee told Reuters last week.
Last month, Petronas scrapped its proposed $29 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal project in western Canada due to soft prices. Wan Zulkiflee said. He expects oil prices at $49 per barrel at the end of the year and in the "high $40s" in 2018. This is on top of another MYR3 billion dividend payment Petronas will make this year.
