Petronas Lubricants Chalks Up Revenue Of One Billion Euros From Italian Venture

From Hafizah Kamaruddin MILAN, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- Petronas Lubricants International (PLI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas company, Petronas, chalked up revenue of one billion euros from its investment in Italy, reflecting the national oil corporation's continuing success as a global investor in international markets. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said PLI, with two plants in Italy and a staff of 700, had a market share of about 23 per cent in the country. "One of the strategies taken by Petronas is to associate its lubricant with Italy's renowned car maker, Fiat. "Whatever success achieved by PLI is due to the acceptance of Petronas in Italy," he added. He told Malaysian reporters this here Sunday and at the end of a three-day working visit from Friday in conjunction with the Expo Milano 2015. Najib, who left for home at noon, had been invited by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last year to attend the Expo, the world's biggest and held once in five years. It began on May 1 and ends on Oct 30. Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said Petronas had managed to enhance Malaysia's international image. He added that besides multinational corporations and big companies, small and medium enterprises also need to raise the visibility of Malaysia as an investment destination, towards efforts to attract Italian investors. From his roundtable meeting with 12 Italian and two Swiss captains of industry on Saturday, the Prime Minister said among the proposals highlighted by them was that Malaysian entrepreneurs need to engage more aggressively with the Italian and Swiss business communities. "This is besides the need to raise the visibility of Malaysia in Italy as an excellent investment destination," he added. Najib said they also proposed that Malaysia counter more aggressively the anti-palm oil campaign in Europe. He said the businessmen shared their positive experience of doing business in Malaysia and acknowledged the good relationship with the government. --BERNAMA