Petronas plans more overseas undertakings

Petronas plans more overseas undertakings

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's national oil company, Petroliam
Nasional Bhd. (Petronas), said yesterday it would hunt for
further opportunities overseas during the year ahead.

The corporation acquired a 30-percent stake in a South African
refiner in June last year, said Petronas president and chief
executive Hassan Marican.

It has also sealed an oil exploration and production agreement
with Sudan and an exploration deal with Algeria,

"These are upstream activities and in very early stages,"
Hassan told a news conference after receiving a government
invitation to set up a Petronas university.

Hassan did not say how much investment would be involved in
the projects.

"It will continue to be a busy year," he said, signaling the
corporation's move to expand its global exposure.

Petronas last June spent US$436 million in its biggest foreign
investment to date to acquire a 30-percent stake in South
Africa's listed oil refiner Engen Ltd.

Hassan said the investment in Engen was starting to pay off
and Petronas received $10 million in dividends from Engen last
October after the refiner declared its corporate results.

Engen owns and operates the second largest crude oil refinery
in South Africa, with a capacity of 105,000 barrels per day.

Using Engen as a vehicle to enter the African market, Hassan
said Petronas had invested $10 million in some logistics
facilities and storage terminals in Tanzania.

"That has opened up the Tanzanian market for us," Hassan said.

Asked whether Petronas would step up its investments in
Africa, he replied: "We will look at it if there is an
opportunity."

The corporation aims to bring in about 30 percent of total
revenue from overseas by 2005. It plans to spend about 12 billion
ringgit by 2000 to develop upstream, downstream, gas and
petrochemical industries.

Its international upstream operations include exploration and
production activities in Vietnam and exploration in Pakistan, the
Philippines and the Middle East.

Petronas, which has extensive natural gas and petrochemical
operations, is a major revenue-earner, contributing about 8.7
percent of Malaysia's export earnings.

Malaysia has 4.1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 85.1
trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas reserves.

For the year to March 1995, it posted a net profit of 4.56
billion ringgit ($1.82 billion) and revenue of 17.11 billion
ringgit.

However, Hassan declined to forecast Petronas' result for the
current financial year.

Petronas Gas stock, which is listed on the local bourse, was
unchanged at 10.10 ringgit in late yesterday trade.