KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 31): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) president and group chief executive officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz said today the outlook for the oil and gas (O&G) industry remains challenging due to emerging fresh waves in the number of Covid-19 pandemic cases and prevailing uncertainties over OPEC+ crude oil production cuts in 2021. 

Tengku Muhammad Taufik said in the latest Petronas Activity Outlook report, which was published today, that the effects of the pandemic are difficult to estimate, while the impact from OPEC+ decisions cannot be overstated as the industry continues to face the dual impact of demand destruction combined with an oil price rout due to the supply glut. 

"Therefore, we believe the industry is now contending with a great reset. This is an undeniable and unavoidable imperative, requiring immediate reforms along the whole value chain.

"Collectively, as an industry, we must step up from doing business as usual and compel innovation at all levels — implementing new ways of working with focused execution at pace,” Tengku Muhammad Taufik said.

Against this backdrop, he said Petronas has undertaken purposeful measures to strengthen its resilience and steer the organisation towards a path to recovery. 

He said Petronas is committed to being relentless in its pursuit of becoming a more cost-efficient producer. 

"At the same time, we have little choice but to continue taking steps to further de-risk our investments, focusing on areas of our business that will both deliver quicker cash returns and are less volatile, as well as to embark into more innovative solutions while pivoting our portfolio. 

"This will all be centred around evolving into a stronger, more customer-centric workforce, committed towards the pursuit of our growth strategies,” he said.

According to Tengku Muhammad Taufik, Petronas intends to continue intensifying efforts towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its assets through continuous improvements in operational excellence, and by deploying innovative operations and technologies.

Together with these efforts, the group will also pursue new avenues of revenue creation via investments in nature-based solutions as well as establish greater accessibility to cleaner energy solutions, he said.