Overview
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is Malaysia 's national petroleum company. Over the years, it has become a fully-integrated oil and gas corporation with operations in more than 30 countries worldwide. It is ranked among Fortune Global 500's largest corporations in the world. The company delivered another record performance for the fiscal year ended March, 2008. Its strong and diversified base of upstream assets gives the company a significant competitive advantage. However, price escalations and increasing competition could lead to lower operational growth and market share for the company also suffering from supply and production disruptions in its operations.
Strengths
Robust Revenue Growth
Petronas delivered a record revenue performance for the fiscal year ended March 2008. The company recorded highest-ever revenue at $66,215 million in the fiscal year 2008, an increase of 29.9% over 2007, driven by higher sales volume and average realized prices. The company's revenues from Malaysian and international operations increased 15.07% and 34.3% respectively in 2008, demonstrating its growing operational presence. The company's profit before tax (operating profit) increased by 33.78% to $29,333 million, as the company successfully contained costs despite operating in an environment with disproportionate operating cost escalations. The net profit was $20,002 million in the fiscal year 2008, an increase of 38.4% over 2007. Petronas also had a stronger balance sheet with assets totaling $106,039 million in the fiscal year 2008, an increase of 24.4% over 2007. The long term debt burden of the company decreased to $9,314 million in 2008, as compared to $9,418 million in 2007 and $9,860 million in 2006. Robust revenue growth will allow the company to pursue strategic capital investment opportunities in the future.
Diversified Operations
The company has vertically integrated operations along the