Malaysia's national oil company Petroliam Nasional Berhad or Petronas posted a marginal 1.4% decline in third quarter oil and gas production, but is expected to boost capital expenditure on key projects and drilling activities in the following quarter.
Total production volume for the quarter ended September 30 slipped to 2.176 million boe/d from 2.206 million boe/d a year earlier, on the back of lower gas production due to an outage at the Sabah Sarawak gas pipeline, Petronas said in an earnings statement.
Petronas' oil and gas entitlement also slipped to 1.514 million boe/d in the third quarter, from 1.634 million boe/d a year earlier.
Total LNG sales volume during the quarter fell 12.6% to 6.31 million tons from 7.22 million tons a year earlier, mainly due to lower production from the Petronas LNG complex and Gladstone LNG in Australia, partially offset by higher volumes from trading activities, it said.
Petronas has been struggling with declining production levels from mature fields, and the lack of large discoveries that are needed to stem falling oil and gas output.
Capex spending is expected to rise in the fourth quarter driven by the Pengerang Integrated Complex, LNG Canada and increased drilling activities both domestic and international, the company said in a statement.
Petronas posted a 43% rise in quarterly profit after tax to RM14.3 billion from RM10.0 billion last year, helped mainly by higher revenue.
Its revenue for the third quarter came in at RM63.9 billion, up 19% on year, on the back of higher oil prices that filtered into higher petroleum product prices, partially offsetting a stronger exchange rate and lower LNG sales.
Petronas said it expects fourth quarter results to be an improvement despite volatile oil prices. "Petronas is on track to deliver a strong year-end performance by maintaining our focus on driving efficiency efforts across all our operations," chief executive Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, said.
The Pengerang Integrated Complex has achieved 95% completion, is reaching commissioning stage and is on track for startup in 2019, the company said, adding that its Melaka refiner is also being upgraded at a cost of RM1.5 billion to boost diesel Euro 5 output.
