Malaysia's Petronas first-half profit rises 4 pct on higher revenue

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) reported a 4 percent year-on-year increase in profit after tax to 27.2 billion ringgit (6.76 billion U.S. dollars) for the first half of the year, in line with higher revenue, the firm said on Friday.

Revenue rose 15 percent to 152.4 billion ringgit, driven by higher domestic production and increased sales volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and processed gas.

The performance was further supported by favorable average realized prices across major products, the company said in a statement.

Capital expenditure amounted to 41.4 billion ringgit during the period, mainly driven by an additional capital injection by its downstream business into the PRefChem joint venture, as well as investments in upstream exploration and development activities. (1 ringgit equals 0.25 U.S. dollars)