Petronas' 2007 petchem revenue up 9.4% to $4bn

28 June 2007 09:57  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petronas on Thursday reported a 9.4% rise in its fiscal 2007 petrochemicals sales revenues due to higher average realised prices, particularly for ethylene and methanol.

Total revenues for the petrochemicals sector rose to ringgit (M$) 13.9bn ($4bn) for the financial year ended 31 March 2007, from M$12.7bn a year ago.

The company said it achieved its highest-ever production volume of petrochemical products during the year under review, with total production volume increasing 11.4% from 8.8m tonnes to 9.8m tonnes.

This was due to the sector’s continuous operational improvements, said Petronas, which resulted in record reliability and utilisation rates of 94.6% and 95.2% respectively, compared with 93.3% and 88.3% respectively in the previous year.

Sales volumes, however, fell 8.6% to 6.4m tonnes primarily due to lower third-party petrochemical products trading activities by the company a result of tight supply in the market arising from unplanned shutdowns of several petrochemical plants in the Middle East and Asia.

Petronas said it planned to continue to invest in improving plant performance.

Plant rejuvenation and debottlenecking projects at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC), methanol and ethylene plants in Malaysia, will result in increased production capacity of 10-20% within the next two years, said Petronas.

Its methanol project in Labuan, which has a planned capacity of 1.7m tonnes/year, is progressing as scheduled with the completion of the detailed engineering design and commencement of permanent site works, it added.

Petronas recorded overall pre-tax profit of M$76.3bn for the year ended 31 March 2007, a rise of 9.9% from the year earlier, due to successful cost controls, it said.

Total revenues for the year rose 10% to M$184.1bn, driven by higher sales volume and average realised prices, it added.

($1 = M$3.48)

By: Jeanne Lim
+65 6780 4359

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