Petronas, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, registered a net profit of 23.5 billion ringgit (5.28 billion U.S. dollars) in the year of 2016, a 12-percent rise than the previous year, though its revenues for the year dipped by 17 percent to 204.9 billion ringgit.
Describing 2016 as "one of the most challenging years in recent history," Petronas President and CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin told a press conference on Tuesday that Brent prices further declined to below 30 U.S. dollars per barrel in early 2016 before averaging 44 U.S. dollars per barrel for the year, as opposed to 52 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2015.
He said better margins were due to a series of restructuring measures, such as a plan to slash capital expenditure and costs by 50 billion ringgit from 2016 to 2019.
The restructuring plan also included a "manpower optimisation" plan, which saw 2,300 of its employees affected, said Wan Zulkiflee.
For the last quarter of 2016, Petronas realized a net profit of 11.3 billion ringgit, compared with a loss of 2.96 billion ringgit in the same period of 2015.
Wan Zulkiflee said he was not sure "whether the worst is over or not," adding oil prices in 2017 will remain uncertain though picking up a little bit lately. As the only Fortune 500 company of Malaysia, Petronas said it would pay 13 billion ringgit to the Malaysian government.
Wan Zulkiflee refused to confirmed whether the number was the lowest level since 2007, but said it varies from year to year as Petronas discuss with the Malaysian government.
The company said it is still studying the conditions on the Pacific Northwest LNG project set out by the Canadian government before announcing its next move.
As for the joint refinery project in Pengerang in the southern state of Johor, in which Saudi Aramco will invest 7 billion U.S. dollars, Petronas said progress is nearly 60 percent by February.
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