SapuraKencana in 4Q loss. CEO Aims at ‘Competitiveness’ at $30 a barrel
SapuraKencana, a Malaysian company dealing with oilfield services and owning oil and gas assets, reported a net loss for fourth quarter and the full year.
Loss for the quarter was RM 1.29 billion, while the full year loss was RM 791 million. According to Reuters, this is SapuraKencana’s first quarterly loss in five years. For comparison the company’s profit in the fourth quarter of the previous year was RM129 million, and RM 1.4 billion for the full year, respectively.
SapuraKencana said its result was mainly affected by provisions of impairment for property, plant and equipment, and oil and gas properties which amounted to RM 1.7 billion for the full year.
Life at $30
Shahril Shamsuddin, President and the Group Chief Executive Officer said the group would continue to manage the industry pressures through aggressive implementation of its initiatives to reset costs to match the low oil price environment.
He said this would involve strategic initiatives in the optimisation of the company’s supply chain and improvements to the company’s operational and organisational efficiency. Citing an industry source, Reuters reported that there would be no layoffs within SapuraKencana, “for now”.
The company CEO said that looking ahead he expected pressures on the company’s margins in the near term.
He said that the company would focus on opportunities in key markets such as in South East Asia, India, the Middle East and Mexico, and work towards making SapuraKencana competitive in a $30 oil price environment “with the embedded agility to benefit as the industry recovers.”
