Malaysia's Petronas 9-Month Pre-Tax Profit Rises To US$23.17 Billion

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Petronas' pre-tax profit for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2014 was marginally higher at US$23.17 billion (RM78 billion) against RM76.7 billion recorded in the same period last year. (US$1 = RM3.36) The Malaysian oil company's revenue grew to RM249.78 billion for the period under review from RM232.51 billion registered previously. Executive Vice-President/Group Chief Financial Officer George Ratilal said the better performance was due to higher production volume, higher liquefied natural gas sales volume and favourable exchange rate. However, Petronas' pre-tax profit fell 12 per cent to RM22.8 billion on the back of a lower revenue of RM80.37 billion. "The weaker performance was mainly due to lower crude prices," he told a press conference to announce the group's third quarter financial performance here Friday. He said global oil prices, which started to decline in the third quarter, fell as much as 25 per cent to US$70.69 per barrel on Nov 27 from US$94.18 per barrel on Sept 30. On outlook, Ratilal said given the ample supply of oil supply and slowing global energy demand, the current oil price slump was expected to persist. "The group's fourth quarter performance is projected to be considerably lower than the third quarter," he added. The national oil and gas company's total assets registered a 16.4 per increase to RM545.1 billion, as at Sept 30, 2014 from RM528.7 billion recorded on Dec 31, 2013. Cash balance stood at RM140.5 billion while gearing was 1.7 percentage point lower at 9.4 per cent in the third quarter. --BERNAMA