Petronas spends RM13.7bil on exploration and production

Wednesday December 9, 2009

PETALING JAYA: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) spent RM13.7bil on its exploration and production (E&P) business in the first six months ended Sept 30, or 9.8% more than in the year-earlier period.
The higher E&P spending was by “upstream subsidiaries for the production and development of various blocks,’’ it said but gave no further information.
The national oil company also spent RM2.1bil to shore up its shipping segment during the period.
According to figures posted on the group’s website, Petronas increased capital expenditure (capex) at home by 27% to RM13.7bil during the period under review, but cut spending overseas by more than half to RM5.5bil.
This led to a drop in Petronas’ total capex to RM19.2bil in the first half, down 17.2% against RM23.2bil the year before.
On the production side, Petronas said the group’s total oil and gas output declined in the first six months “due to the implementation of reservoir management plan and flaring reduction efforts.’’
“There has also been an increase in maintenance activities,’’ it said.
Petronas’ oil output stood at 725,800 barrels per day (bpd), while gas production was one million bpd in oil equivalent.
Its overseas production made up 275,400 bpd in oil and 367,400 bpd in gas production.
Africa was the biggest contributor to Petronas’ overseas production volume, followed by South-East Asia.
The figures from Petronas also showed that Malaysia’s total oil production was 658,100 bpd and the national oil company’s share of the output was 450,400 bpd.
In the gas segment, total domestic production was 939,800 bpd with Petronas-owned gas wells contributing 632,600 bpd.
Total national production of oil and gas was 1.6 million bpd in the six months ended Sept 30.