Petronas seeks to scale new heights
Source of picture: www.mir.com
By John Richardson
MORE details have emerged concerning the major restructuring taking place at Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned oil, gas, refining and petrochemicals major.
Vice-presidents have being appointed to head new downstream (refining and petrochemicals), upstream (exploration and production) and finance divisions, a source familiar with the company told the blog.
"An executive committee of the new vice-presidents and our overall president has also been established. This will help speed-up the decision-making process which has to date been hindered by over-centralisation," he added.
And within the new downstream division, petrochemicals - as earlier media reports indicated - will undergo an initial public offering (IPO), the current schedule for which is the second-half of this year.
"This listing is going to be a huge deal for boosting liquidity on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE)," the source continued.
"We don't have the big companies, such as those on the Dow and the Footsie, which can boost liquidity and the value of our exchange."
Perhaps then after the petrochemicals listing, institutional investors such as pension funds could be attracted into the IPOd Petronas petrochemicals division. Its gas-based operations should, in most market conditions, deliver strong profitability.
