KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) paid a total of RM40 billion in dividends to the government in 2023 while its National Trust Fund contribution amounted to RM2 billion, said Petronas president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz.

Its total dividend payout in 2022 was RM50 billion.

"Having carefully and rigorously assessed the group’s affordability to continue to fund its operations, service its debts and meet its obligations as well as invest in growth, Petronas last year made the scheduled dividend payment of RM40 billion to the government,” he said at the announcement of the national oil company’s results for last year.

The national oil company also held its commitment to the National Trust Fund with a contribution of RM2 billion in 2023.

Executive vice-president and group chief financial officer Liza Mustapha said Petronas will pay a total of RM32 billion in dividends to the government in 2024.

"The board has approved the dividend payment of RM32 billion which will be paid between March and December. It had just been approved yesterday,” she said.

Petronas posted a lower net profit of RM80.7 billion in the financial year ended December 31, 2023 (FY2023) compared to RM101.6 billion in the previous year, mainly impacted by lower average realised prices.

Revenue in FY2023 slipped to RM343.6 billion compared to RM372.3 billion previously.

For the fourth quarter, the national oil company’s net profit decreased to RM16.6 billion from RM24.4 billion, while revenue dropped to RM91.7 billion from RM104.2 billion. — Bernama

* An earlier version of this article contained an error by Bernama which has since been rectified.