Petra Energy eyes ‘significant chunk’ of RM3.2b O&G deals

Petra Energy Bhd is confident of securing a “significant chunk” of RM3.2 billion worth of contracts tendered out by national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the results of which will be known in six months.

Petra Energy’s recently appointed CEO Kamarul Baharin Albakri based the confidence on its good track record with its other oil major partners such as Shell.

“We’re confident of securing from a technical perspective. That’s where we see it enhancing our book orders,” Kamarul told reporters after Petra Energy’s AGM here yesterday.

“We are quite confident with the uptrend in the oil and gas industry. We are very well positioned with our track record,” he added.

Kamarul said Petra Energy wanted to move into new O&G market segments where there were “potential business opportunities”. This includes Petra Energy’s top-side and also enhancement solutions that the company will provide to the client as a total solutions provider.

On top of that, Petra Energy also wanted to improve its corporate governance including reporting procedures and standards, said Kamarul.

“Board members would be coming in, committees would be formed. We have full transparency under the corporate governance, and I think that’s critical.

“We will have the necessary key performance indicators (KPIs) in place. We also want to improve the business process itself, where each of the business units will be accountable with their KPIs to deliver to the bottomline,” Kamarul said.

Meanwhile, Petra Energy’s executive director Ahmad Yusoff said two new independent directors would be appointed to the company’s board within three months to fulfil regulatory requirements.

“Additional appointments would be made to further strengthen the board. These will be counted on to achieve the company’s management objectives. We want to make sure the new directors who come on board are the people who meet the objectives, including in the area of governance,” Ahmad said.

He added that Petra Energy had sent invitation letters to invite representatives from Petra Perdana Bhd to be nominated onto the former’s board.

Petra Perdana, which has a 29.6% stake in Petra Energy, is in the middle of a power tussle which had earlier spilled over to Petra Energy.

The battle at Petra Perdana is between shareholders Tengku Ibrahim Petra Tengku Indra Petra on one side and Datuk Henry Kho and Shamsul Saad on the other.

The battle for control of Petra Energy appears to have fizzled out following the resignation of Tengku Ibrahim as chairman and executive director of Petra Energy on June 18. The company also saw its independent directors Siew Boon Yeong and Gerawat Gala stepping down.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, June 30, 2010.