Thursday, November 23, 2006

Petronas reports 22% rise in fiscal first-half profit

Malaysian oil-and-gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. on Thursday reported a 22 percent rise in net profit for the first half of its financial year.

The state-owned firm, commonly referred to as Petronas, said its net profit for the six months ended Sept. 30 climbed to 24.66 billion ringgit (US$6.80 billion; euro5.28 billion) from 20.29 billion ringgit in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 9.9 percent on year to 88.85 billion ringgit (US$24.50 billion; euro19.02 billion).

Petronas, which doesn't release quarterly earnings figures, didn't provide reasons for the better performance or a forecast for its future outlook.

Analysts expected Petronas to perform well due to increased production and high oil prices.

Petronas said its domestic operations contributed to 24.5 percent of revenue, while the balance was from export and international operations.

The company said its total production was 1.63 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 6.7 percent on-year.

Oil accounted for 43 percent of production and gas comprised the remainder. - AP

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