KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is expecting the price of crude oil to hover between US$55 and US$60 per barrel over the next five years, according to its President and Chief Executive Officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz.

He added that given the current challenging times amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Petronas remains committed to maintaining, encouraging and acting as catalysts for the vibrant oil and gas sector, especially towards local industry players.

“In doing so, we have resolved any previous backlog of payments this year to alleviate our liquidity challenges.

“We have helped SMEs when there have been issues...where there are contractual disputes, we brought them to faster resolution. In that bracket alone, I think close to RM700 million worth of payments have been resolved or released.

“We have continued to make sure that work is deployed and packaged and contracting strategies involve local participation, to the extent that we have shaped bidding strategies to include regional players,” he said during a virtual media briefing today.

Meanwhile, Petronas also highlighted that in line with its aspiration towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it has completed two major Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects, located off the coast of Sarawak, in June this year.

“The integrated Bokor-Betty project achieved zero continuous flaring and venting of hydrocarbons, while the project in Baronia achieved zero continuous venting of hydrocarbons,” it said.

On the gas and new energy front, Petronas shared that it successfully delivered over 11,790 LNG cargoes from the PETRONAS LNG Complex (PLC) in Bintulu during the first half of the year (1H21).

It also recorded higher sales of gas in 1H21 compared with the same period last year, mainly due to higher demand from the power sector.

“Petronas continues to provide reliable supply of LNG to off-grid and marine industry customers with a total of 180 Virtual Pipeline System (VPS) deliveries completed in Peninsular Malaysia and nine LNG Bunkering deliveries in the Straits of Malacca which includes Petronas’ first LNG bunkering operation in Port Klang.

“Petronas has also strengthened Malaysia’s position as an LNG ISO tank export hub following the commencement of the ISO tank facility in Pengerang, complementing our operations in Bintulu, Sarawak,” it added.