Large-scale retrenchment not in national oil giant’s plan

PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin has denied rumours of the company cutting 5,000 jobs, which were posted on a blog recently.

While consequent management for non-performer employees is always ongoing, a retrenchment of such a big scale is not in the national oil and gas company’s plans.

“I would like to take the opportunity to address a blog post of late about the retrenchment. I do not know where that came from, because we do not have any plans for any retrenchment.

“But I will say that it is an ongoing exercise for the non-performers. However, this is nowhere near the scale of the last manpower optimisation exercise,” he told NST Business.

“We will continue to look at how we can optimise, and if it the right thing for the organisation, we will do it. But it is not 5,000-plus like what was quoted and higher than the previous exercise. It depends on the size, portfolio, where we are as well as the oil prices.”

According to its latest annual report, Petronas has a workforce of 51,034, with 84 per cent serving in Malaysia, followed by 9.1 per cent in Africa, 2.2 per cent in Europe, 1.9 per cent in Middle East, one per cent in North and South America, and 0.1 per cent in Australia and New Zealand.

It has 89 and 38 wholly-owned and partly-owned subsidiaries as well as 20 associate companies globally. Last year, Petronas slashed up to 1,000 jobs to cope with slumping oil prices. The company offered a voluntary separation scheme. The restructuring exercise was carried out to reduce redundancies as the company aimed for a flatter, leaner and efficient business model. Zarina Zakariah

Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s total workforce

serving in Malaysia

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