Petronas president and CEO Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said: "Tough times are here to stay."
KUALA LUMPUR: National oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has raised its dividend payout to the government to RM24bil this year, which is RM5bil higher than RM19bil it had earlier plan.
Its group chief executive officer Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin pointed on that the higher dividend payment was on the back of an increase in profits and higher global crude oil prices.
“We raised our dividend payment to the government to RM24bil, which is 50% higher than the RM16bil we paid last year,” he told reporters after Petronas’ mid-year 2018 review.
For the second quarter ended June 30, Petronas saw its profit after tax almost double to RM13.63bil from RM7.06bil last year, driven by its cost-cutting measure and higher oil prices.
Its revenue for the quarter increased by 14.7% to RM59.3bil from RM51.6bil previously.
Cumulatively, for the first half of 2018, Petronas posted a 54% surge in profit after tax to RM.26.65bil from RM17.35bil a year ago.
Petronas executive vice-president Datuk Manharlal Ratilal said during the first half, the average crude oil price was at US$70.56 per barrel, compared to US$51.8 per barrel a year earlier.
Petronas saw its revenue in the first half rise by 8% to RM117.16bil from RM108.15bil.
Wan Zulkiflee said that the capital investment for the first half was RM19.8bil, which was mainly for its investment in the downstream at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Johor.
He said that the PIC project was progressing as plan, which was about 93% completed.
He said Petronas planned its capital expenditure based on the average oil price of “slightly below” US$73 per barrel for this year and US$66 per barrel in 2019.
“We like to remain conservative,” Wan Zulkiflee said.
He also said that Petronas was targeting to finalise its final investment decision for its LNG asset in Canada in the next few months.
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