Malaysian oil firm Petronas today said its net profits rose 50.3 percent in the year to March to a record RM35.56 billion due to spiralling oil prices.

President and chief executive officer Mohamad Hassan Marican said revenues rose 40.5 percent to RM137.0 billion, also a record result in the company's 30-year history.

Mohamad Hassan said high crude oil prices were sustained over the financial year as uncertainty and volatility persisted in the Middle East, while strong economic growth in China and the United States drove global demand.

"The industry is still undergoing a period of change in supply dynamics, changing more rapidly than ever with oil prices yet to stabilise. The general feeling is that the state of play is likely to remain in the foreseeable future with oil prices likely to remain firm," he said.

"We are confident that the group has enough inbuilt resilience to weather this volatile industry," he said of Petronas, the only Malaysian company to be listed in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest firms.

Elsewhere on the balance sheet, total assets grew 17.7 percent to RM239.08 billion, while shareholders' funds rose 26 percent to RM129.38 billion.

Barrels sold

Mohamad Hassan said Petronas had sold a total of 207.1 million barrels of crude oil and condensates over the last year, a 6.6 percent increase from 194.2 million barrels sold in the year earlier.

The higher sales volume was a result of increased production achieved through the group's exploration and production activities in the year, he said.

"We will work to sustain the production levels. As new reserves get developed, there will be some increase in production," he said.

Intensified exploration during the year saw significant offshore oil and gas discoveries off Sabah and Sarawak states, as well as peninsular Malaysia, he said.

Petronas currently holds 59 exploration and production ventures in 29 countries.

Mohamad Hassan said the company would continue to look at opportunities available overseas but that it remained focused on regions where it already has operations - northern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

He said Petronas would further develop its reserves in Sudan, with new production by year's end and the first quarter of 2006, while production was expected from the company's Turkmenistan reserves by the end of the year.