Petronas said on Friday that any special dividend to the government would be dictated by the company’s own funding needs and debt obligations.
To respond to the coronavirus pandemic impact in the country, the government would tap state enterprises to help out with a $58 billion stimulus package announced in March. The state enterprises have not been identified.
Petronas would pay a regular dividend of 24 billion ringgit ($5.5 billion) to the government in 2020, the company said in February. With total liabilities of 183.51 billion ringgit, the company at the end of last year had cash and cash-equivalent of 141.62 billion ringgit.
Whether the recent slump in energy prices would make any extra payout difficult, the company did not give any comment. LNG price for this year at the range of 1,150-1,250 ringgit per tonne, assumed by Bank Negara Malaysia’s economic forecast. Last year, the LNG price was 1,594 ringgit. Last year, 54 billion ringgit paid by Petronas to the government as the treasury faced a funding crunch.
