Malaysian energy giant Petronas has posted a loss in the fourth quarter of 2015 and said it is planning to further cut its spending in the next few years, all due to prevailing low oil prices.
The company posted a RM2.96 billion ($704.3 million) net loss in the fourth quarter 2015 compared to a RM7.3 billion loss in the year before, according to its financial report issued on Monday.
The company’s 2015 profit plunged 56 percent to RM20.8 billion from RM47.6 billion the year before.
Petronas’ revenue also took a hit by dropping 25 percent to RM247.7 billion in 2015 from RM329.2 billion the year before. The company’s quarterly revenue decreased 24 percent from RM79.3 billion in the fourth quarter 2014 to RM60.1 billion in the same quarter this year.
Petronas’ president and group CEO, Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said the following two years will remain challenging for the company as the cash flow from operations “is unlikely to be able to cover the remaining CAPEX and its RM16 billion dividend commitments to the government.”
Wan Zulkiflee added that there will be additional CAPEX and OPEX reductions of RM50 billion over the next four years. He noted a RM15 to RM20 billion cut for the year 2016.
Petronas LNG sales
The company’s liquefied natural gas sales for the fourth quarter 2015 period were up by 0.29 million tons, compared to the same period in 2014. This is a 4 percent rise from 7.77 million tons in 2014 to 8.06 million tons in the fourth quarter in 2015.
Total LNG sales volumes for 2015 were up only by 0.2 percent or 0.05 million tons, from 30.12 million tons in 2014 to 30.17 million tons in total during 2015.
The increase was due to higher third party sales volumes, although production at its LNG complex in Bintulu, Sarawak was lower.
1 RM = 0.237302 USD
LNG World News Staff