KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag) expects 2017 to be a challenging year for the oil & gas industry, with volatile movement of crude oil prices as seen in the first and second quarter of the year.

“I think it’s going to be very challenging for the rest of 2017 and moving forward, because of the oil prices. We foresee that it’ll be a volatile situation and we have already seen it in the first and second quarter of the year,” said PetDag managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Ibrahimnuddin Mohd Yunus to reporters on the sidelines of Invest Malaysia 2017 today — a closed door presentation to investors.

According to Ibrahimnuddin, inventory management will be key to ensure the group performs well, in view of the volatile environment for oil prices.

On the group’s expansion of petrol stations in the country, he noted Petronas has the biggest network in Malaysia and the expansion of more stations will be selective in nature.

When asked on the weekly fuel price-setting mechanism introduced by the government, Ibrahimnuddin said the impact on PetDag is not huge, as the group has always embarked on an efficient inventory management.

“In terms of whether there will be a new mechanism on the fuel price-settings, there’s nothing new that we are aware of,” Ibrahimnuddin said, noting the government will announce in due course, should there be any changes.

PetDag has edged higher at RM23.86 with about 74,800 shares having exchanged hands, giving it a market capitalisation of RM23.7 billion at noon break today.