Wata – Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer

Dateline 2016-08-22, Reuters:

Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on Monday said low oil prices dragged quarterly profit down 85 percent, and labelled the industry outlook “gloomy” well into 2017.

Petronas has seen a global slump in oil prices squeeze finances, which make up a third of Malaysia’s oil and gas revenue. The benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 price, which hit a 12-year low earlier this year, rose 25 percent in the second quarter but remains lower than a year earlier.

“We should expect to see volatility continue and Petronas will not bank on optimistic oil prices to ease up on pressure,” President and Chief Executive Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said at a news conference.

“The combined factors of oversupply, growing inventories and slower demand growth point to an ongoing gloomy outlook well into 2017.”

Wan Zulkiflee said Petronas planned for an average price this year of $30 a barrel, unchanged from its February forecast. Brent crude, after a recent rally, traded at $49.50 at 1021 GMT.

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Dateline 2016-08-17, FMT:

Malaysia’s oil giant, Petronas, has saved RM3.4 billion since embarking on cost-cutting measures in 2015 and this effort will continue even if oil prices recover.

“Through the Cost Reduction Alliance programme, we have managed to cut RM3.4 billion in terms of our costs since we started till the middle of this year,” its president and group chief executive officer, Wan Zulkifli Wan Ariffin, said.

He said this at the International Conference of Blue Ocean Strategy’s plenary session themed “Delivering High Value at Low Cost” here today.

The Cost Reduction Alliance, or Coral 2.0, is a five-year industry-wide programme from 2015 to 2019, driven by Petronas, with the aim to inculcate a cost-conscious mindset across Malaysia.

Wan Zulkifli said the transformation kicked in when oil and gas companies, including Petronas, were hit by tumbling prices from 2014.

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Dateline 2016-08-17, FMT:

Malaysia’s oil giant, Petronas, has saved RM3.4 billion since embarking on cost-cutting measures in 2015 and this effort will continue even if oil prices recover.

“Through the Cost Reduction Alliance programme, we have managed to cut RM3.4 billion in terms of our costs since we started till the middle of this year,” its president and group chief executive officer, Wan Zulkifli Wan Ariffin, said.

He said this at the International Conference of Blue Ocean Strategy’s plenary session themed “Delivering High Value at Low Cost” here today.

The Cost Reduction Alliance, or Coral 2.0, is a five-year industry-wide programme from 2015 to 2019, driven by Petronas, with the aim to inculcate a cost-conscious mindset across Malaysia.

Wan Zulkifli said the transformation kicked in when oil and gas companies, including Petronas, were hit by tumbling prices from 2014.

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Dateline 2016-01-12, TMI:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd is bracing for two to three more tough years as the Malaysian state oil company grapples with crude at an 11-year low while seeking to keep its multi-billion dollar projects on track.

Oil may average US$30 (RM132) a barrel this year in a “low-price” scenario, chief executive officer Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said in an interview yesterday.

With a capital expenditure plan of as much as RM350 billion over the next five years, he said the company’s “good” cash build-up would help it through difficult times.

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Dateline 2015-12-01, InTheBlack:

The chief executive of Malaysian energy giant Petronas is using the sliding oil price to push the boundaries on innovation while reining in costs.

Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin took stewardship of Malaysian state-owned oil and gas giant Petronas on 1 April 2015, a day known in many parts of the world as April Fools’ Day. The irony is not lost on the company veteran, given the tough trading conditions Petronas is battling on the back of a sustained slump in the price of crude oil.

It has made his role of president and chief executive an even greater challenge. Wan Zulkiflee is shepherding the company’s 51,000 employees in 75 countries through a thorough and very public cost-cutting drive. He’s also responsible for contributing a large chunk to the Malaysian Government’s coffers – 30 per cent of government revenue came from Petronas in 2014, down from 40 per cent in 2009.

Against this, the crude oil price has dropped by about 50 per cent since mid-2014, largely due to an over-supplied market. Prices spent much of 2015 below US$50 a barrel and, while they’ve recovered at times over the past 12 months, analysts believe it will be many years before oil again fetches US$100 a barrel.

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What mega projects?

Dateline 2015-11-15, NST:

PETRONAS president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin often talked about the need for oil and gas companies to “recalibrate” themselves in the midst of the oil and gas price doldrums.

With the global energy market outlook remaining hazy, companies, including Petronas, have to stick with a prudent and conservative budget. Managing cash flow is the main priority.

Announcing Petronas’s third-quarter financial results last week, the affable Wan Zul was frank when speaking about the challenges facing Petronas and the industry. \

But, did Petronas overextend itself with three mega oil and gas projects, as some have suggested?

Analysts and senior oil executives disagree, saying Petronas needs to invest for the future to take advantage of any industry upturn.

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