Mahathir appointed Petronas advisor

Mahathir appointed Petronas advisor

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad
has been appointed advisor to national oil firm Petronas, a
report said Friday.

"(Mahathir) has agreed to be a Petronas advisor for quite some
time," Petronas chairman Azizan Zainul Abidin was quoted as
saying by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia.

Mahathir's appointment as advisor was appropriate because he
had contributed many ideas to improve Petronas' operations
previously, Azizan said.

Mahathir, who retired as prime minister on Oct. 31 after 22
years in power, was personally responsible for Petronas's
expansion overseas, Azizan said.

Mahathir this year urged Petronas to drop the dollar for the
euro in its oil and gas trades, a move which it has already begun
to implement by diversifying its currency portfolio.

Petronas has operations in 34 countries, which contributed 31
percent to group sales in the year to March, it announced earlier
this year.

As at January, Petronas had total oil and gas reserves of
24.14 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 80 percent were
domestic and the balance international. --AFP