Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been appointed advisor to national oil firm Petronas, a report said today.

"(Mahathir) has agreed to be a Petronas advisor for quite some time," Petronas chairman Azizan Zainul Abidin was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia .

Mahathir's appointment as advisor was appropriate because he had contributed many ideas to improve Petronas' operations previously, Azizan said.

Force behind expansion

Mahathir, who retired as prime minister on Oct 31 after 22 years in power, was personally responsible for Petronas's expansion overseas, Azizan said.

Mahathir this year urged Petronas to drop the dollar for the euro in its oil and gas trades, a move which it has already begun to implement by diversifying its currency portfolio.

Petronas has operations in 34 countries, which contributed 31 percent to group sales in the year to March, it announced earlier this year.

As at January, Petronas had total oil and gas reserves of 24.14 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 80 percent were domestic and the balance international. - AFP