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CORRECTED - CORRECTED-Petronas sales rise in FY'09, so does govt take

Reuters - Thursday, June 25

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 - Revenues at Malaysian state oil company Petronas [PETR.UL] rose 18.4 percent to 264.2 billion ringgit in its fiscal year to March 2009, although high operating costs cut net profits by 15.1 percent.

The company made a net profit of 52.5 billion ringgit, compared with 61 billion a year ago, it said on Thursday.

High costs for services and pipes were compounded by rising payments to Malaysia's federal government, which saw its dividend from Petronas rise to 30 billion Malaysian ringgit from 24 billion ringgit in fiscal 2008.

Petronas paid a total of 74 billion ringgit into federal and state coffers in fiscal 2009 in taxes and dividends, up from 61.6 billion in 2008. At the same time the amount of money it has for investment declined to 21 percent of group profit from 34.8 percent in the previous year.

"I think the comfort level is probably to be left with 35-40 percent of the profits to be reinvested," Petronas President and Chief Executive Mohd Hassan Marican told a press conference.

According to Petronas, that figure compares with 57.1 percent of profits reinvested by oil majors.

The oil company accounted for 44.9 percent of Malaysian government revenues in calender 2008, a year in which the budget deficit hit 4.8 percent of gross domestic product.

Malaysia's budget deficit this year is expected to hit 7.6 percent of GDP, according to government forecasts, thanks to extra spending as the government seeks to boost domestic demand in the export-dependent economy that could contract as much as 5 percent this year.

Petronas also pays subsidies on natural gas it supplies to power producers and industrial users and that cost it 19.5 billion ringgit in the fiscal year just ended.

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