Petronas 1Q Net Profit Triples on Higher Oil Prices

Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Malaysia's national oil company more commonly known as Petronas, on Friday said its first-quarter net profit tripled, helped by higher oil prices, improved margins and cost controls.

For the first quarter ended March 31, the state-owned oil and gas group posted a net profit of 8.21 billion ringgit ($1.92 billion), compared with MYR2.67 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Quarterly revenue rose to MYR61.66 billion from MYR49.13 billion a year earlier due mainly to higher prices realized across all products, favorable exchange rate impact and higher processed gas sales volume.

Petronas is recovering from the slide in oil prices over the past three years and is looking for new ways to boost revenue after cutting costs. It announced in January last year that it would slash spending by as much as 50 billion ringgit over the next four years. Petronas has cut more than 2,300 jobs, mostly contract employees, since last year.

However, Petronas said it continues to maintain a conservative outlook for 2017 and it will continue to focus on cost reductions. "The outlook of oil price remains uncertain despite the recovery seen early this year," it said.

Write to Saurabh Chaturvedi at saurabh.chaturvedi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2017 06:33 ET (10:33 GMT)