Malaysia's Petronas posts $1.1 bn net loss in fourth quarter

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas Monday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 4.69 billion ringgit ($1.1 billion) due to plunging oil prices, and announced spending cuts worth billions of dollars over the next four years.

President and chief executive officer Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said that amid a "depressed oil price environment" the outlook remains tough.

"The company anticipates its financial performance for 2016 to continue to be affected by the prolonged volatility in oil prices," he said in a statement after revealing the October-December results.

Revenue for the quarter was down 24.3 percent to 60.10 billion ringgit, from 79.37 billion ringgit in the same period a year earlier.

However the net loss shrank compared to October-December 2014, when it was 9.87 billion ringgit in deficit.

The unlisted Petronas, Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company, announced cuts in capital and operating spending of 50 billion ringgit over the next four years, starting with 15-20 billion in 2016.
Petronas is the single largest source of Malaysian government revenue and national export earnings. Plunging prices of oil and other commodities have hurt the nation's growth prospects.

Full-year growth for 2015 was at five percent, down from six percent in 2014.

The government now expects economic growth of 4-4.5 percent this year, down from an earlier projection of five percent.

Petronas's weak quarterly result pulled down its net profit for the year ended December 31, 2015, which sank 64.5 percent to 13.16 billion ringgit compared to 2014.

Petronas said its revenue for 2015 plunged 25 percent to 248 billion ringgit.