KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas slipped into losses in the second quarter of 2020 on lower revenue and net impairment losses on assets.
Petronas said in a statement Friday that the group recorded net loss of 21 billion ringgit (about 5.1 billion U.S. dollars), compared with a profit after tax of 14.7 billion ringgit a year ago.
The group's revenue in the second quarter also fell 42 percent year on year to 34 billion ringgit, due to lower average realized prices for all products and lower sales volume mainly from petroleum products, processed gas and liquefied natural gas.
For the first half, the group posted a net loss of 16.5 billion ringgit, as its revenue declined by 23 percent year-on-year to 93.6 billion ringgit.
The group expects its 2020 performance to be severely affected by the low oil price and weak demand environment.
"The industry continues to operate in a challenging and unprecedented market environment arising from a combination of severe demand destruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global oil market glut," said the group.
The group also said it would continue to intensify its efforts to protect its revenue together with cost optimization to mitigate the negative impact on its profitability and liquidity. (1 ringgit is equal to 0.24 U.S. dollars) Enditem
