KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has ramped up its allocation for capital investment in 2019 to "slightly above" RM50 billion, compared with RM46.8 billion in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), according to president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.

"Last year, we spent below RM50 billion. This year, we are anticipating slightly above RM50 billion," he told a media conference after delivering the national oil firm's financial results here, today.

The RM46.8 billion capital expenditure (capex) that Petronas spent last year — 46% went overseas and 54% were for investments in Malaysia — was 5% more than the RM44.5 billion it spent in FY17.

"In terms of capex, traditionally we have been allocating about 70% for Malaysia and 30% for international investment in previous years.

"We will continue to invest in Malaysia for sure. In terms of absolute numbers, our investments in Malaysia [have] grown pretty significantly over the years. So, going forward, it will still be significant investments in Malaysia," Wan Zulkiflee said.

He said a lot of the capex over the past few years had been for the development of the Pengerang Integrated Complex, which is part of Petronas' downstream segment. Since the project is already at 97% completion, the upstream segment will see a higher share of the capex going forward.

For 2019, the upstream will get RM30 billion of the total capex, of which RM15 billion will be spent domestically. "We are also venturing into the renewable energy space and that will also take up some of our capex," said Wan Zulkiflee.

Confirms considering Indian solar firm buy
Wan Zulkiflee also confirmed media reports that Petronas is considering to acquire a majority stake in Indian-based Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd — one of India's largest rooftop solar power producers — in a deal that could be worth 2,700 crore rupees (RM1.56 billion).

"We are exploring, reviewing, and assessing opportunities in renewable energy specifically on solar energy and specialty chemicals. This is an ongoing exercise. There are many opportunities that we screen and India is one of them. But there are also work that we are doing in Malaysia on this," he said.

It was reported in mid-January that Petronas was seeking to buy into Amplus, which was founded in 2010 and has set up power generation capacity of 350 megawatt across India.

It was said that besides Petronas, Amplus has also garnered the attention of other oil majors, including Norway's Statoil ASA, France's Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, according to Indian business newspaper Mint.

In Malaysia, Petronas already has some small solar power assets such as its plant in Gebeng, Pahang, and has conducted research on solar panels on the rooftop of the Suria KLCC mall.