Malaysia's Petronas Q1 profit down on weak oil prices

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said Friday it made a net profit of 11.4 billion ringgit ($3.18 billion) in the first quarter -- more than 7 billion ringgit lower than the same period last year -- due to the slump in global oil prices.

In the first quarter of 2014, Petronas, the single largest revenue contributor to the Malaysian government, posted an 18.8 billion ringgit profit.

Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company said its revenue fell from 84 billion ringgit in the first quarter of 2014 to 66.2 billion ringgit in the first quarter of 2015.

In a statement, the company said the lower profit was due to lower revenue following the fall in the benchmark crude oil price.

However, it added that the downward trend was "partially offset by higher processed gas trading sales volume and higher LNG sales volume".

Petronas' performance in the first quarter of 2015 was an improvement on the final quarter of 2014 when it posted a net loss of 7.3 billion ringgit.

It was Petronas' first ever quarterly loss since it launched quarterly reports five years ago.

Petronas said it expected its 2015 performance to be affected by the "sustained low oil price environment".