Down 20+ %

We have to face the reality of demand and supply force.....

bersabar, skarang dunia tengah dirundung masalah ekonomi....

Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) 2010 net profit fell nearly a quarter on higher costs and lower oil prices, but it has maintained a RM30 billion dividend to the government.
Net profit in its financial year to March 31 2010 was down 23.2 per cent to RM40.3 billion. Revenue fell 18.1 per cent to RM216.4 billion. At pre-tax level, profit dropped 24.5 per cent to RM67.3 billion.

Petronas president and chief executive officer Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas said the decline in net profit was largely due to lower prices although it saw higher sales volume.

"Nevertheless, return on total assets and return on average capital employed remained at par with established players in the industry, at 16.4 per cent and 25 per cent respectively," he told reporters when announcing the national oil company's financial results in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Payments to federal and state governments were down 22.2 per cent to RM57.6 billion.
"This comprised a dividend payment of RM30 billion, taxes of RM18.7 billion, petroleum proceeds of RM8.3 billion and export duties of RM600 million," Shamsul said.

On top of that, Petronas also subsidised the price of gas sold to local industries, amounting to RM18.9 billion, down slightly from last year's RM19.5 billion. "This brings the total cumulative subsidy borne by the group since regulated gas prices came into effect in May 1997 to RM116.4 billion."

Its international business made up almost half of total revenue, or 45.3 per cent, at RM98.1 billion.

Revenue from exports fell 23 per cent to RM75.7 billion, due mainly to lower revenue from liquefied natural gas, crude oil and condensate exports. Petronas' exports made up 13 per cent of Malaysia's total exports in the same period.

Revenue from the domestic market of RM42.6 billion constituted 19.7 per cent of group revenue.

Petronas said it plans to trim overseas exploration and focus more on developing and acquiring oil and gas fields.

"We are going to shift a bit from that E (exploration) to the P (production), meaning, take less risk on exploration, grow the high prospective areas, but at the same time grow further in the areas of development and production.

"What I'm trying to say is that we are not totally going out of international operations, but we have to do a total portfolio review, identifying where are basically the value discoveries, where are areas that are basically high-risk and where we reckon the upside is limited," Shamsul said.

He admitted that Petronas had been neglecting the local exploration and production industry over the last few years.

"We are in the middle of having a dilemma in regard to gas supplies. The problem ... is that the discovery is taking place at the wrong marketplace.

"The current shortfall of gas in Malaysia is in Peninsular Malaysia, but the discovery is in Sabah and Sarawak where demand for gas is less."

Basically, there is a need to ramp up domestic operations to discover more molecules because gas is running short.

"So the strategy to come back to domestic operations is to ramp up discoveries for future growth," Shamsul added.

Read more: Petronas profit down http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/petdown-2/Article/#ixzz0sUMRazUc