PETRONAS MAKES HUGE PROFIT

Petronas Boleh

WHY CAN'T PETRONAS SUBSIDISE INSTEAD OF PUNISHING THE RAKYAT FOR THE 10 BILLION NEEDED FOR CRONY PROJECTS?

Petronas has strengthened its position as Asia’s largest oil and gas firm as well as the biggest and most profitable Malaysian company after reporting its best financial performance in its 30-year history.

For the year to March 31, the national oil company posted a 57% jump in net profit to RM23.7bil from RM15.1bil the prior year and a 40% rise in pre-tax profit to RM37.4bil from RM26.9bil.

Its RM97.5bil revenue was 20% higher than the previous year's RM81.4bil. Driven by strong prices for crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemicals, as well as growing sales volume from its overseas operations, the achievement was described by the company as “a respectable growth rate which is among the highest in the industry.”

Based on its latest results, Petronas’ annual return on revenue (pre-tax profit over revenue) of 38.4% for the year under review is more than double the average of below 15% for the world’s largest oil companies. Its return on assets, meanwhile, was 18.4%, a shade lower than the 18.7% attained by ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, but ahead of other super-majors like ChevronTexaco, TotalFina, Shell and BP, based on their latest financial numbers.

Petronas belongs to the Government and the Government belongs to the Rakyat. Isn't is justifiable that the Government takes the RM 10 billion from Petronas if they need the money for projects? Or, is the money in Petronas for Mahathir and Hassan Merican and SCOMI?

The way Petronas is treated, it is as if it is owned by some individual and the money will be used to bail out some cronies. Maybe Mahathir can give an honest answer to the secrecy.