KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) plans to pay out RM13 billion in dividend this year to the government, said its president and chief executive officer Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.
Wan Zulkiflee, speaking after the group's yearly financial results announcement today, said the national oil company was confident in meeting the payment amount as the government, as a stakeholder, had never disrupted the capex and opex allocations for the company.
"Yes, we are confident in meeting it despite a challenging industry outlook and we appreciate the fact that the government had never disrupted our budget allocations and we are thankful for that.
"We will be paying the amount for this year considering the current crude oil prices but for next year, we will have to re-analyse to determine how much we can pay as dividend," he said.
Earlier, Petronas announced a 12 per cent higher net profit of RM23.5 billion for its financial year 2016 compared to RM20.9 billion in 2015.
Its quarter-on-quarter net profit also saw a 85 per cent higher jump to RM11.3 billion compared to RM6.1 billion in the previous quarter.
The higher net profit was attributed mainly to lower operating expenditures and tax expenses partially offset by lower average prices.
The group's revenue for the year however dipped 17 per cent RM204.9 billion from RM247.7 billion in 2015, reflected by the lower average prices in line with the downward trend of key benchmark prices coupled with impact of lower sales volume.