Dateline 2017-03-17, FMT:
Petronas has managed to control its decline in earnings in the wake of low crude oil prices due to cost optimisation initiatives, ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday.
It described Petronas’ 6.7% decline in its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) to RM70.4 billion for 2016 over 2015 as a “modest” decline.
“This is a modest earnings decline, considering that the crude oil prices have decreased by around 17% year-on-year, with Brent averaging US$43.69 per barrel (bbl) in 2016, as compared with US$52.46 per bbl in 2015,” Moody’s said in a report.
However, Petronas’ upstream earnings for 2016, measured by profit after tax, improved by 88%, The Sun Daily reported.
This, Moody’s said, was mainly due to operating costs reduction and lower impairment losses, compared with 2015.
Petronas’ crude oil and natural gas entitlement volumes increased by 10.5% to 1,794 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), the report said.
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Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 