Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said on December 01 its second quarter profit increased 48.3 percent year-on-year due to higher realised prices of crude oil. Petronas said in a statement that its profit for the quarter ending September 30 was 15.97 billion ringgit ($5.02 billion), up from 10.77 billion ringgit in the same quarter last year.
Its revenue for the quarter also increased 26.0 percent to 71.83 billion ringgit year-on-year despite a "challenging" economic environment, it said. The company added that prices across the board were up to 55 percent higher this quarter year-on-year but were expected to ease amid the global economic uncertainty and higher output from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
For the first half of the financial year, Petronas recorded a 25.3 percent revenue growth to 144.8 billion ringgit, and its profit rose 53.0 percent to 35.32 billion ringgit year-on-year.
Petronas said it expects a profit before tax of up to 75 billion ringgit for the financial year ending this December.
Petronas - Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company - contributes almost half the country's budget revenues. It will end its accounting period in December 2011 to allow its new financial year to start in January 2012.