Malaysian Petronas’ net profit declines 2.7% in Q3

According to media reports, Malaysia’s Petronas Chemicals Group’s net profit declined by 2.7% to MYR891 million ($212.1 million) in the third quarter from MYR916 million in the same period of the last year. The decline in net profit was attributed to higher tax expense.

The company’s revenue also fell by 2.1% to MYR3.56 billion ($844.8 million) from RM3.64 billion a year earlier due to lower product prices stemming from weak crude oil markets.

In the January-September period, Petronas’ net profit decreased by 6.4% to MYR1.95 billion ($462.7 million) from MYR2.08 billion while the company’s revenue for the same period was also down 1.7% to MYR9.91 billion ($2.35 billion) when compared to RM10.09 billion a year earlier.

The company expects global economic conditions, its production facilities’ utilisation rate and petrochemical product prices to be the main factors affecting results in the near term.