Petronas Announces Additional Rm25bil Dividend For Govt

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Petronas said its efforts were geared towards continuing to strengthen the energy ecosystem in Malaysia and the countries it operated in. (Reuters pic)KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas has announced an additional RM25 billion dividend payment to the government, making it a total dividend payout of RM50 billion for the year.
President/group chief executive officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz said the new dividend was in addition to the RM25 billion that had been approved in February.
“The additional RM25 billion dividend has been approved by the board after having carefully and rigorously assessed the group’s affordability to continue funding its operations, service its debt and meeting its obligations as well as invest in future growth,” he told reporters after announcing the group’s half-year financial performance ended June 30 here today.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik said the group remained committed to accelerate its approved investments as it needed to future-proof its operations towards energy transition.
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He said the total dividend payout of RM50 billion this year was one of the largest payments made by the group, following a total payment of RM54 billion in 2019.
Asked whether the additional dividend payment would impact Petronas, Tengku Muhammad Taufik reiterated that the group would need to spend prudently but in a profitable manner.
Petronas also announced that its net profit jumped to RM23 billion for the second quarter ended June 30 (Q2 2022) from RM9.6 billion in the same period a year earlier, in tandem with higher revenue partially offset by higher product costs and taxation.
The national oil firm’s revenue surged to RM93.3 billion compared with RM57.1 billion in the same quarter last year, predominantly due to favourable prices for all products and the exchange rate.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik said the company’s efforts were geared towards continuing to strengthen the energy ecosystem in Malaysia and the countries it operated in.
“To this end, the group remains committed to creating value that supports Malaysia’s economic growth. This includes supporting the resilience of the local oil and gas ecosystem and cultivating strong partnerships towards sustaining a conducive environment for business to thrive,” he said.
Petronas said cash flows from operating activities (CFFO) for the quarter improved to RM34.5 billion from RM18.4 billion in the same quarter last year in line with higher cash from operations.
In the first six months of the year, Petronas’ net profit stood at RM46.4 billion compared with RM18.8 billion previously, in tandem with higher revenue following an upward trend in prices partially offset by higher product costs and taxation.
The group recorded a revenue of RM172.1 billion in H1 2022 compared with RM109.6 billion in H1 2021, mainly due to favourable prices for major products aligned with higher benchmark prices.
Total assets strengthened to RM699.5 billion in H1 2022 compared with RM635.0 billion as at Dec 31, 2021, mainly contributed by higher cash and fund investments and receivables.
In H1 2022, Petronas’ CFFO stood at RM62.4 billion compared with RM32.7 billion previously, in line with higher cash from operations.
The group’s capital expenditure (capex) amounted to RM18.9 billion, mainly contributed by upstream projects.
Petronas said its overall capex for the quarter was reflective of the volume of activities returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The group’s upstream division recorded a total daily production average of 2.43 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day in H1 2022, compared with 2.35 million boe in the same period a year earlier, mainly driven by high oil and gas production from Malaysia operations, as well as higher crude oil production from international operations.
Petronas said, however, this was offset by lower natural gas production from international operations following the divestment of its Azerbaijan assets. - FMT

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