Petronas to boost contribution of non-fuel segment to downstream oil business

Malaysia’s state-owned oil company Petronas is looking this year to boost the non-fuel segment contribution to its downstream oil business, which is currently at 10%, according to Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohd Tahir, Petronas’ vice president of Marketing Downstream.

“Everywhere in the world, in downstream retailing, people are already doing that [increasing non-fuel contribution] such as Shell, Esso and BP. We are trying to learn and we have done some [of that] here in Malaysia and it’s showing good success,” he said.

“Based on that lesson learned and experience, we want to expand that [non-fuel contribution] and we are going to do it smartly. It will require some time but we do have plans,” he added.

Syed Zainal Abidin expects the outlook for the downstream market to remain competitive as oil demand is expected to be subdued, as public transportation, such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit, becomes more popular.

“Last year, the MRT came into play, so generally people tend to leave their cars in the suburbs and take the train to the city, thus cutting back on their overall long-distance traveling. This has impacted the oil and gas industry particularly the retail sector, and we believe this trend will continue this year.”