Oil price volatility expected to persist in 2019 — Petronas

KUALA LUMPUR: National oil and gas (O&G) company Petronas expects the greater volatility seen in oil prices this year to continue in 2019.

In its annual Petronas Activity Outlook (PAO) report for 20192021 released yesterday, Petronas shared its perspective on industry trends, demand outlook and activities in the upstream and downstream sectors.

“Petronas, in this edition of the PAO, maintains its prudent view on the industry outlook and will respond with cautious optimism particularly on new capital projects,” it said in a statement yesterday.

In the report, Petronas shared its aspirations and key opportunity areas for industry players to participate in decommissioning activities and acknowledged that decommissioning was much talked-about amongst industry players as a rapidly developing market segment.

“Local players in the decommissioning segment need to reconsider a more cost-effective and efficient business model to support upcoming requirements,” it said.

Petronas said its commitment on its digital transformation journey to become a data-driven organisation, the need to embrace technology and digitalisation in both culture and mindset was also highlighted in the PAO.

The report also noted the lack of data on talent among O&G industry players despite it being the fuel that drives industry growth.

“In line with the government’s aspiration for industry players to be more involved in talent development, especially in technical and vocational education training, Petronas shared its take on Malaysia’s O&G service and equipment talent landscape based on an in-house study.