KUALA LUMPUR: It’s a tough period for the oil and gas sector and Petroliam Nasional Bhd is feeling it for its third quarter results.
Its president and CEO Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said on Wednesday: “Tough times are here to stay.”
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“Moving forward, with the outlook on the oil and gas sector still uncertain, we must focus on adapting more prudent approaches to our cash management and materialising internal efficiency measures.”
Due to higher asset impairments and net foreign exchange loss on US dollar borrowing, its net profit plunged 87% to RM1.4bil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 from RM11.1bil in the previous quarter.
During the quarter, Brent crude was trading at an average of US$50.26 per barrel, which shed about a-fifth from the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, revenue slipped 2% to RM60.1bil from the previous quarter.
Compared to the same quarter last year when Brent crude averaged at US$101.85 per barrel, revenue declined by a quarter from RM80.1bil while net profit loss 91% from RM15.1bil.
Wan Zulkiflee said the company was going to focus more on its downstream businesses and projects that would provide cash flow in the near-term.
In line with that, the company could be relocating its human resources to the downstream segment as activities in that area is expected to grow.
He said the company was not right-sizing the number of its permanent staff despite the 200,000 job cuts announced in the industry globally.
He added that the company remained committed to its capital expenditure projects including the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development, the Pacific North West LNG project in Canada, the LNG Train 9 in Bintulu and the two Petronas floating LNG projects being constructed in Korea.
The oil and gas giant allocates RM350bil for its capex in the next five years.
