PETRONAS , short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad , is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and adding value to these resources. PETRONAS is ranked among Fortune Global 500 's largest corporations in the world. Fortune ranks PETRONAS as the 95th largest company in the world in 2008 and 80th largest in 2009. It also ranks PETRONAS as the 13th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Since its incorporation, PETRONAS has grown to be an integrated international oil and gas company with business interests in 35 countries. As of the end of March 2005, the PETRONAS Group comprised 103 wholly owned subsidiaries, 19 partly owned outfits and 57 associated companies. Together, these companies make the PETRONAS Group, which is involved in various oil and gas based activities. The Financial Times has identified PETRONAS as one of the " new seven sisters ": [ 4 ] the most influential and mainly state-owned national oil and gas companies from countries outside the OECD .
The group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining ; marketing and distribution of petroleum products ; trading; gas processing and liquefaction ; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas ; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering ; and property investment.
Petronas provides a substantial source of income for the Malaysian government, with 45% of the government's budget dependent on Petronas' dividend, moreover in 2011 government actual balance has 5 percent deficit of Gross Domestic Product . [ 5 ]
The company is headquartered at the Petronas Twin Towers which was officially opened on Malaysia's 42nd National Day, August 31, 1998 - in the Corporation's 24th Anniversary year.
