Malaysia’s national oil and gas company Petronas has refuted press reports of the resignation of its Executive Vice President and CEO Upstream Business Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib.
“Petronas would like to clarify that Datuk Mohd Anuar remains in his position as the Executive Vice President and CEO of Upstream Business, Petronas,“ the company said in a statement on Sunday.
Independently, the company said, Petronas Gas Berhad, a subsidiary of Petronas, on June 28, 2019, in compliance with the Main Market Listing Requirements announced to Bursa Malaysia on the resignation of Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib as Chairman and Director of PETRONAS Gas Berhad, effective 1st July 2019, in line with the internal reorganisation of PETRONAS that was approved by the PETRONAS Board of Directors on February 28, 2019. “…Petronas wishes to further state that with the reorganization, PETRONAS Gas Berhad is now placed under the purview of Encik Adif Zulkifli as the EVP & CEO of Gas & New Energy Business, Petronas.”
Petronas’ need to clarify comes after reports by the Malaysian media that Anuar Taib had resigned from his EVP and CEO Upstream business on June 28.
The media reports were based on Petronas Gas Berhad own Bursa Malaysia’s statement on June 28, which stated the following: “The resignation of Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, EVP & CEO of Upstream Business, Petronas , and the appointment of Encik Adif Zulkifli , EVP & CEO of Gas & New Energy Business of Petronas, is in line with the internal reorganization of PETRONAS whereby PETRONAS Gas Berhad is now under the portfolio of the Gas & New Energy Business.”
This was later amended by the following Bursa Malaysia filing:”The resignation of Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib as Chairman and Director of PETRONAS Gas Berhad is in line with the internal reorganization of PETRONAS whereby PETRONAS Gas Berhad is now under the purview of Encik Adif Zulkifli as EVP & CEO of Gas & New Energy Business of PETRONAS.”
Malaysia’s news website The New Straits Times, which had initially headlined the reported resignation of Datuk Mohd Anuar as a “Shock Departure” has blamed Petronas for the blunder.
The newspaper’s article on the matter referred to Petronas’ initial announcement of the EVP and CEO of Upstream departure: “One cannot blame an unfamiliar reader to walk away from this paragraph thinking Anuar had quit as EVP of Petronas. The filing could have been better crafted.”
The paper further said: “Let us say it simply: this is a public relations issue and it could have been handled better. We tried reaching Anuar, too, but he, understandably, didn’t take our call. This mishandling has one unfortunate result for Petronas: the rumour mills have taken over. Public Relations 101 will tell us if you do not tell your own story others will tell that story for you. And thus, has Petronas lost control of its own narrative.”
Read The New Straits Times full article here: https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/leaders/2019/06/500002/nst-leader-trouble-top
Datuk Mohd Anuar, a well engineer by discipline, was named as head of the upstream development and production division of Petronas in June 2012 , having previously worked for Shell for over twenty years. Prior to joining Petronas has was VP Malaysia, Upstream International and Chairman of Shell Malaysia.
Offshore Energy Today Staff
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