Petronas to purchase Italian lubricant maker

By Denise Kee / Bloomberg News

SINGAPORE: Petroliam Nasional, the state oil company in Malaysia, plans to borrow €800 million, or $1.1 billion, to buy Italian lubricant maker FL Selenia from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, according to a banker familiar with the deal.

Petronas, as the company is known, has hired its adviser, Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment-banking unit of Allianz, to arrange the 364-day loan, according to the banker, who declined to be identified before a public announcement. Petronas will decide on the longer term funding plan later, the banker said. Azman Ibrahim, a spokesman for the firm, did not return telephone messages.

Petronas is getting the one-year loan instead of committing to longer-term funding as the cost of borrowing euros for three months held near the highest in more than six years. The European Central Bank said Friday in its quarterly survey that banks were likely to remain unwilling to lend in the next quarter.

Dresdner Kleinwort is selling the loan to other banks, offering them an all-in pricing, including fees and interests, of 22 basis points, according to the banker. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

"The absolute yield they are paying is not high," said Jeffrey Yap, a credit trader at Rabobank International in Hong Kong. "It is quite prudent of them to get a bridge loan and decide on the longer term funding later given the uncertainties in the credit markets now."

Petronas will pay an interest margin of 7.5 basis points more than the Euribor for the first four months. The interest margin will increase to 10 basis points for the next four months and to 12.5 basis points for the last four months, according to the banker. Three-month Euribor, or the Euro interbank offered rate, and a benchmark for borrowing costs, was at 4.775 percent on Friday.

Investors demand a premium of 114 basis points on Petronas 7.75 percent bonds maturing August 2015 more than the U.S. Treasuries of similar maturity or a yield of 5.5 percent, according to Deutsche Bank. Petronas has a total debt of $10 billion comprising loans and bonds, according to Bloomberg data.

KKR bought the maker of lubricants from Vestar Capital Partners, a buyout firm, for €835 million at the end of 2005. FL Selenia has more than 15,000 customers with product ranges including transmission and engine fluids for trucks, automobiles and tractors. The sale to Petronas was announced on Sept. 20.

The loan will be by a unit of Petronas butMalaysian oil company has spent more than $1.4 billion buying assets in Europe and Australia this year. Petronas is rated A- by Standard & Poor's and two levels higher at A1 by Moody's Investors Service.

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Petronas reports record annual profit

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd reported a record annual profit Thursday.

Petronas said its net profit rose 7.7 percent to 46.4 billion ringgit (US$13.3 billion; euro9.9 billion) in the financial year ended March 31 from 43.1 billion ringgit in the previous year.

Revenue rose 10 percent to 184.1 billion ringgit (US$52.6 billion; euro39.1 billion) from 167.4 billion ringgit, said Petronas, Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company and the country's most profitable firm.

With global oil prices remaining high, Petronas said in a statement that it sold Malaysian crude oil at an average of US$68.50 per barrel during the fiscal year, up 11.2 percent from US$61.60 in the previous year.

Petronas Chief Executive and President Hassan Marican declined to forecast crude oil prices for this year but said "the consensus is that prices will remain firm in the short term.''

Hassan also warned that if demand in Malaysia continues to grow at four percent annually, the country will be a net importer of crude oil by 2010.

As at Jan. 1, 2007, Malaysia had 5.36 billion barrels of crude oil and condensate reserves.

As a state-owned enterprise, Petronas' earnings help boost government coffers.

For the just-ended year, Petronas paid 48.3 billion ringgit (US$13.8 billion; euro10.3 billion) in taxes, royalties, dividends and export duty, making it the single biggest tax payer in Malaysia. - AP

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Fortune Global 500

Petronas
Rank: 121 (Previous rank: 120)
CEO: Mohamed Hassan Marican
Employees: 33,439
Address: Tower 1, Petronas Twin Towers
Kuala Lumpur 50088
Malaysia
Phone: 60-3-205-15000
Website: www.petronas.com.my

$ millions % change from 2005
Revenues 50,987.5 15.1
Profits 12,862.8 11.2
Assets 85,200.6 --
Stockholders' Equity 49,424.5 --

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Petronas posts 50% profit rise

By Stephanie Phang Bloomberg News

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2005
KUALA LUMPUR Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, posted a record full-year profit Thursday, up 50 percent from a year earlier because of the surge in crude oil prices.

Net income for the year that ended on March 31 rose to 35.6 billion ringgit, or $9.4 billion, from 23.7 billion ringgit a year earlier. Sales gained 41 percent to 137 billion ringgit.

"The year under review proved to be a good year for integrated oil and gas companies," the chief executive, Hassan Marican, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. "Sustained global economic growth driven by China and the U.S. contributed to the upward pressure on oil demand."

Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, and bigger rivals including BP and Exxon Mobil, are benefiting from oil prices that have risen 55 percent in the past year as demand for oil has grown faster than the increase in supply.

Oil futures, which reached an all-time high of $60.95 a barrel in New York on June 27, traded at $57.29 a barrel on Thursday. The average price for Malaysian crude oil rose 46 percent in the past year, to $45 a barrel, Hassan said.

For the company's second half, Petronas profit rose 28 percent to 18.8 billion ringgit from 14.7 billion ringgit a year earlier.

"The search for strategic oil reserves by China and India will disproportionately benefit companies like Petronas," said Michael Preiss, director of the Asian Bond Market Forum, which advises on bond-market issues and infrastructure development. "It gives Petronas an advantage that they are where others are not going."

Hassan expanded oil and gas production by increasing exploration in countries like Egypt and Chad to make up for stagnant Malaysian output. Hassan said June 13 that the company was in talks to explore for oil and gas in Iraq and that it would begin producing oil in Turkmenistan by the end of the year.

By volume, Petronas's sales of crude oil and condensate rose 6.6 percent to 194.2 million barrels in the year through March 31. Condensate is a hydrocarbon mixture similar to light oil.

Revenue from the oil company's international operations and exports from Malaysia rose 40 percent to 106 billion ringgit, accounting for 77 percent of total sales. Malaysia is the largest oil and gas producer in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.

Total assets grew 18 percent to 239.1 billion ringgit while borrowing fell 8.3 percent to 52.9 billion ringgit. Petronas's international operations involve 59 ventures in 26 countries.

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Malaysia's Petronas posts record profit of $12.9 bil

(Kyodo) _ Malaysia's state-owned oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. announced Thursday another record profit for the financial year that ended March 31, on the back of higher sales and rocketing oil prices.

Better known as Petronas, Malaysia's biggest company recorded a 13.2 percent increase in net profit to $12.9 billion from a revised figure of $11.4 billion a year earlier.

The Petronas Group saw its revenue rose 14.9 percent to $51.0 billion from $44.4 billion in the previous year.

The group also controls several listed units such as shipping firm Malaysia International Shipping Corp. Bhd., retail gasoline station operator Petronas Dagangan Bhd. and gas distributor Petronas Gas Bhd.

"This year saw crude oil prices remaining high as global demand, particularly from the transportation sector, continued to increase on the back of strong economic growth especially from China and India," Petronas said in a statement.

During the financial year under review, Malaysia's benchmark Tapis crude rose 11.2 percent to $68.50 per barrel.

Against this positive backdrop, Petronas Chief Executive and President Hassan Marican told a press conference the 2006-2007 year had also been challenging as costs escalated and there was still a lack of engineering and construction capacity to meet demand coupled with a shortage of skilled workers.

"It was a tough year for the industry. However, we managed to swim the tide," he said.

The high demand and soaring oil prices of the last few years have not only brought windfalls to Petronas but also to the government, as Petronas is the single largest contributor to government coffers.

For this financial year, it paid a total of 48.3 billion ringgit ($14.0 billion) in taxes, dividends, royalties and export duties, making up 35.4 percent of the government's total revenue.

Petronas is one of the few well-run, government-linked companies, and the most international. It has presence in 33 countries and 36.7 percent of its revenue was derived from its overseas operations as domestic production declined by 2.7 percent to 1.13 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Malaysia's total reserves of crude oil, condensates and natural gas, as of Jan. 1, stood at 20.18 billion boe, up from 19.91 boe a year earlier.

Petronas Sumbang RM48.3 Bilion Kpd Kerajaan

KUALA LUMPUR, 28 Jun (Bernama) -- Sumbangan perbadanan minyak nasional, Petronas, kepada kerajaan dalam tahun kewangannya yang berakhir 31 Mac, 2007, meningkat kepada RM48.3 bilion daripada RM41.7 bilion sebelum ini.

Pembayaran di segi duti merupakan sumbangan tertinggi, yang berjumlah RM21.8 bilion, diikuti dividen sebanyak RM16 bilion, royalti sebanyak RM8.5 bilion dan duti eksport sebanyak RM2 bilion, kata Presiden Petronas Tan Sri Hassan Marican kepada pemberita di sidang media di sini.

Dividen itu tidak termasuk dividen interim kedua sebanyak RM6 bilion dan dividen akhir sebanyak RM10 bilion bagi tahun kewangan 2007 dan yang akan dibayar dalam tahun kewangan 2008, kata Hassan.

"Sehingga ini, kami telah memulangkan RM336 bilion kepada kerajaan," katanya.

Petronas kekal sebagai penyumbang terbesar tunggal kepada perolehan kerajaan, yang meningkat 35.4 peratus bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Mac, 2007, berbanding dengan 34.4 peratus dalam tahun sebelum ini.

-- BERNAMA

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Petronas, Gasunie consider gas infrastructure partnership

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Apr. 26 -- Petronas has expressed an interest in becoming involved in the proposed Gate LNG terminal in the Netherlands, said Marcel Kramer, chief executive of NV Nederlandse Gasunie. "We are in discussions about the supply side for Gate LNG, which is at an advanced stage, and any further involvement," he told OGJ.

The companies signed a memorandum of understanding Apr. 25 at the LNG15 conference in Barcelona in hopes of forging a relationship to develop gas infrastructure in the Netherlands and exchange knowledge and expertise on technology and experience in the gas chain.

In an exclusive interview with OGJ, Kramer said Petronas's experience as a major international LNG producer and supplier and Gasunie's experience as a gas infrastructure developer in Europe had brought the companies together to explore other avenues for accessing gas markets in Europe.

"Petronas is looking at other LNG options in Europe; it is involved in the Dragon regasification terminal in the UK," he added. "There are also seasonal underground storage proposals in the Netherlands, and Petronas has an interest in becoming involved in that too." He declined to give details, stating that there are "various options under discussion."

Gasunie and Dutch utility Nuon are constructing the €350 million Zuidwending underground gas storage facility that is expected to start operations in 2010. The four planned subterranean gas storage caverns in the province of Groningen will have a capacity of 180 million cu m.

"This isn't suitable for seasonal gas storage, but we are getting useful experience from it," Kramer said. "We are interested in doing larger gas storage projects, and the Dutch government has also said on a number of occasions that security of supply is very important, and they also want to make the Netherlands a gas hub; storage would be an important way to do that."

Earlier this month, Shell Energy Europe BV agreed to take at least 4 billion cu m of capacity rights in Gate LNG regasification terminal under a heads of agreement signed with project operator Gate Terminal BV. The Gate terminal will have a regasification capacity of 8-12 billion cu m/year, depending on initial market demand, and could later expand to 16 billion cu m/year. It is expected to start operations in mid-2010.

Kramer declined to say when the collaboration with Petronas could start, stressing that negotiations continue between the parties. "I'm sure we'll have fruitful discussions," he said. "Europe needs additional gas supplies."

Contact Uchenna Izundu at uchennai@pennwell.com.

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What Would Be the Fuel for Tomorrow?

Engineers and scientists see a transformation to totally electric vehicles by the middle part of the 21st Century. Much like carriages and steam engines are exhibited, internal combustion-powered vehicles will be consigned to museums, parades and shows.

Today's present vehicles make use of state-of-the-art technologies to attain the low level of emissions requested by government regulations and public health. For some vehicles, advanced and sophisticated computer software is being used to make it run smoothly and consistently reliable for thousand of miles while maintaining its peak condition.

Nevertheless the vehicles of today are 140 times cleaner than those of the pre-emissions era of the late 1960s. The impressive accomplishment in emission reduction gives right to the industry to be proud of this success, but there are is much pressure for the industry to search for other alternative technologies to activate the vehicles in the future.

For the industry, issues like global warming, petroleum supplies and energy dependence, international trade, world population among others are the key areas in which solutions should be drawn. Any substitute merchandise that goes in the marketplace must also please the expectations of the consumers regarding the sector for safety, comfort and economy. Reasonable prices should benefit the consumers as well as quality auto parts like VW cabriolet parts which would ensure them of top vehicle performance.

About the Author
Benjamin Hudson works as a supervisor at one of the top engineering firms in the business district of Louisiana. He is also a freelance journalist and has passion for anything automotive.

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Petronas Twin Towers

INFO: Petronas Twin Towers

Petronas Towers, twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that are the world's tallest twin towers. Standing 1,483 ft (452 m) high, they were designed by the Argentinean-American architect Cesar Pelli. Completed in 1997, they surpassed Chicago's Sears Tower as the record-holding tallest structure; they themselves were surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2003. The twin towers house Petronas, Malaysia's government-owned oil company, as well as associated Malaysian firms and multinational companies. Part of a large burst of construction that marked the country's 1990s economic boom, the buildings stand at the northern end of a projected high-tech business zone, the Malaysia Multimedia Supercorridor. Built of steel-reinforced concrete columns clad in stainless steel and glass, with a design based on geometric patterns originating in ancient Islam, the 88-story buildings are connected at levels 41 and 42 by a double-decker pedestrian skybridge, and each tower is surmounted by a 242-ft-high (74-m) pinnacle. At the lower level, the Petronas Towers also include a concert hall that is home to the Malaysian Philharmonic and a business reference library.

See C. Pelli and M. J. Crosbie, Petronas Towers (2001); M. Thomas, The Petronas Twin Towers (2001).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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Another record profit year for Petronas



KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) reported yet another year of record profit as crude oil prices and sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued to rise.

The national oil company recorded a 22.6% increase in net profit at the group level to RM43.6bil for its financial year ended March 31, 2006 as revenue rose 21.8% to RM166.9bil but president and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican said spiralling cost, the shortage of human capital and ongoing gas subsidies were concerns.

“Cost to develop and explore has gone up. It has become another challenge, coupled with the shortage of human resources around the world,'' he told the media at the release of Petronas' full-year financial results.

Tan Sri Hassan Marican at the press conference.

Notwithstanding such problems, Petronas enjoyed a bumper financial year as the weighted average price of crude oil sold from all the territories it operated in was markedly higher than in the previous financial year.

Petroleum products, such as refined products, was the biggest contributor to Petronas' revenue last year, bringing in RM55.6bil of the overall revenue of RM166.9bil. This was followed by crude oil, LNG and petrochemical products.

“We are able to achieve these results due to the high reliability of our plants,'' Hassan said.

Pre-tax profit for the year rose 21% to RM70.2bil.

Petronas said 58.4% of group revenue, which had been growing at a compounded annual rate of 26.3% over the past five years, came from manufacturing activities. Its domestic manufacturing revenue constituted 27.8% of the manufacturing sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product.

Hassan said that percentage would have been much higher if LNG activity was included under manufacturing instead of mining.

Exports accounted for RM73.6bil of total revenue. Total shareholders' funds and liabilities jumped to RM269.2bil from RM239.1bil and the group's gearing ratio dropped to 0.16 times from 0.22 times a year earlier.

Total debt was RM43.9bil with the majority of it in US dollars and payable over the next 10 years. Petronas has RM93.1bil in cash and investments compared with RM75.2bil a year earlier.

A Petronas oil rig

While higher oil prices was the main driver of revenue and profit growth, Hassan said dividends from subsidiary companies amounted to RM15.8bil, which was a 216% increase from the previous financial year. Total investment in such subsidiaries totalled RM64.5bil.

Budgeted capex for its 2007 financial year was RM27.7bil, of which RM19.2bil was for the domestic market. Of the total amount, 48% was for exploration and production and 26.1% was for logistics and maritime, or for subsidiary MISC Bhd.

Total capex in 2006 was RM18.5bil and the majority of that was contributed by production sharing contract partners in Malaysia.

Comparing financial ratios of Petronas with other oil giants, Hassan said its pre-tax profit margin and return on average capital employed were much better than what the other majors were achieving.

He added that the return on total assets at 26% was lower than some of the majors but if property assets were taken out, the ROA would be about 35%.

Petronas also said that as at Jan 1 2006, total reserves in Malaysia amounted to 19.91 billion barrels of oil equivalent, a 2.8% increase from 2005.

BY JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU and GOH EE KOON(the star online)

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Record Profits By EXXON

This morning Exxon, the largest energy company in the world reported record profits of .36 billion for the second three months of the year. This was up from .64 billion from the same period a year ago. You will notice that the earnings were just shy of the record .71 billion they reported in the fourth quarter of last year, 2005. All companies have cushions; the accountants call them reserves. There is always flexibility in the reporting of a company’s earnings. Exxon very easily could have used their flexibility to come in with earnings that were below last year’s fourth quarter record in order to avoid the embarrassment of posting another new record quarter. The company knows that the Congress is looking over Exxon’s shoulder because the American people are looking over the government’s shoulder. This is especially true with Congressional elections, and both houses of Congress up for grabs.

Every President of the United States has paid lip service to American energy independence. It’s like listening to the President’s State of the Union Address. The last seven President within 1 minute of speaking at the State of the Union has always said, “I am please to report tonight that the State of the Union is strong,” with emphasis on the word strong. Each President has proclaimed the need for energy independence, and then has always backed down from doing anything about it.

The answer by the Democrats is to create a tax to confiscate or simply take away what they deem to be excess profits that Exxon, and its associates are making. The Republicans pine away about the need to open up the Southeast coast of Florida to offshore exploration, as though that’s going to bring in millions of barrels per day. The answer is that both parties are wrong. Exxon is simply tacking onto OPEC dictated price the Arab states wish to charge us. It’s more complex than that, but not by much.

Decades ago, the oil world was run by the seven largest oil companies on the planet, most of them American owned. For those of you old enough to remember back in 1973, the Arabs use an embargo against the United States, and all countries supporting Israel. The big oil companies in the United States controlled, and received 60% to as high as 65% of all the revenues generated by the Arab states.

The first cartel was formed back in 1960. From 1960 until 1973, OPEC which is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had very little power (we mean leverage) over the oil companies. In 1973, that certainly changed. By then the United States was bringing in daily about 35% of energy needs from overseas. Inflation was rampart; commodities in general were rising out of sight, and then all hell broke loose.

The Egyptians and the Syrians attacked Israel on two fronts. The date was Octobers 6, 1973. With the secret support of then President Nixon every weapon short of nuclear was ordered to be flown to Israel to save the Jewish state. Israel was successful in repelling the invasion, but OPEC two weeks later put an embargo against oil shipments to the United States. The Arabs then raised prices for our European allies by 70 plus percent from to more than per barrel. We are now at plus per barrel by comparison with no adjustment for inflation.

In the 1970’s, our economy was much more intertwined with oil, and energy than it is today. We have learned to become more efficient with our machines and processes. Back then, we were propelled into a recession by the dramatic increase in oil prices. Europe went deeper into recession than we did. The lessons haven’t been forgetter, but they haven’t been learned either.

There has been no attempt by the United States for over 30 years to even begin a program of true energy independence. The answer is not to penalize efficiently run Exxon for knowing how to be extremely profitable. Remember the first principle of politics, people vote with their feet.

The Seven Sisters (giant oil companies) who controlled oil prices and policies for generations ceded that power in 1973 to the Arab states. Oil unfortunately is in all the bad neighborhoods of the world, and that’s not going to change. We are at the mercy of Arab pricing for a commodity that is the oxygen of our economy. If Arab oil stops shipping tomorrow, every car and truck, train, and plane would grind to a half shortly thereafter. The United States would have to go to war to maintain our economy and the bad guys know this. They will only push us so far, and no further.

The Arabs want our economy and our Western Europe friends to continue to grow. They want China, and the Pacific Rim to continue to grow. Only through growth can the world afford to pay for Arab oil. They do not want to gouge us, or anger us. It’s not in their interest. They do want to extract the maximum amount we are willing, and able to pay for a barrel of their liquid gold.

One of the consequences of this action is the position that GM finds itself in, and perhaps Ford is in a worse position. GM and Ford are selling cars with obsolete technology, fuel inefficiencies, in a world of Japanese competitors chomping at the bit waiting to assume the title of the largest car company in the world.

Our legacy airline companies are now in the position of have a profit statement that is inversely connected to the price of fuel. Eighteen months ago you could fly a 747 from California to Europe for ,000 in fuel costs. Today the fuel cost is more than 0,000, and getting more expensive.

If the United States wants to achieve energy independence, we must do what France has done. Our electrical generation like France should become nuclear based over the next 15 years. For those who shudder, and cry when they hear the world nuclear, let them know that for more than 50 years the US Navy has had hundreds of vessels run by nuclear power and there has never been a nuclear incident with one of them.

Our cars have to be modeled along European lines. The Europeans have been paying more than per gallons for years and they have learned to deal with it. If GM and Ford can’t handle the problem, the Japanese car companies will handle it for them. After all, the Japanese have been eating Detroit’s lunch for years. Why should it change?

Goodbye and good luck

Richard C. Stoyeck
Value Investing

Richard Stoyeck’s background includes being a limited partner at Bear Stearns, Senior VP at Lehman Brothers, Kuhn Loeb, Arthur Andersen, and KPMG. Educated at Pace University, NYU, and Harvard University, today he runs Rockefeller Capital Partners and StocksAtBottom.com
Value Investing

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