Malaysian energy giant Petronas reported a decrease in liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales due to lower demand, but the company’s profit surged on the back of higher prices.
Total LNG sales during January-March dropped by 10.6 percent to 8.93 million tonnes as compared to 9.99 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Petronas said gross LNG sales volume reduced by 1.06 million tonnes due to “lower production in line with lower demand.”
LNG sales increased slightly when compared to 8.84 million tonnes in the quarter before.
In addition, Petronas said post-tax profit reached 9.3 billion ringgit ($2.25 billion) in the first quarter, more than two times higher when compared to 4.5 billion ringgit in the same quarter last year.
However, the firm’s revenue of 52.5 billion ringgit decreased by 12 percent from 59.6 billion ringgit in the corresponding period last year.
Petronas attributed the decline to lower sales volume of petroleum products, LNG, and natural gas, coupled with the effect of the stronger ringgit against the US dollar exchange rate.