Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) says it is committed to paying RM16 billion in dividends to the government this year, despite oil prices forecast to remain low in 2016.

Petronas president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said Petronas had persevered through the challenging year to remain profitable and fulfil its dividend commitment to its shareholders.

“We discussed dividend payment with the government and for the government to have a reduction from RM26 billion (2015) to RM16 billion demonstrates they do understand the situation,” he told reporters after the announcement of Petronas Group’s financial results for the fourth quarter and year-end financial year 2015 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Also present was Petronas executive vice-president and group chief financial officer (CFO) George Ratilal.

Wan Zulkiflee said after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Petronas’ component for government revenue went down.

On workforce restructuring, he said the matter would be announced within the organisation first before it is made public.

“On restructuring and reorganisation, I would like to share with the organisation first and after that we will issue it to the media,” he said.

Petronas wrapped up an extremely difficult 2015 with lower revenue and profit after tax amidst a depressed oil price environment and net impairment on assets.

It recorded a revenue of RM248 billion, a 25 percent decline compared to 2014. The reduced government divident in 2016 represents a drop of almost 40 percent compared to last year.

- Bernama