Petronas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| PETRONAS | |
 |
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| Type | Public Company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 17 August 1974 |
| Headquarters | Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Key people | Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Hassan Marican, Group CEO |
| Industry | Oil and Gas |
| Products | Gasoline, Petrol |
| Revenue |  44.28 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees | 33,944 worldwide |
| Website | www.petronas.com.my |
Petronas, short for Petrolium Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian owned oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and adding value to these resources. Petronas is ranked among Fortune Global 500's largest corporations in the world.
Since its incorporation Petronas has grown to be an integrated international oil and gas company with business interests in 31 countries. As of the end of March 2005, the Petronas Group comprised 103 wholly owned subsidiaries, 19 partly-owned outfits and 57 associated companies. Together, these companies make the Petronas Group, which is involved in various oil and gas based activities.
The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
Petronas built the Petronas Twin Towers (opened 1998), once the world's tallest buildings, as its headquarters.
In 2004, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, stated that Petronas contributed RM 25 Billion to the country's treasury accounting for 25 percent of revenue collected via dividends and other revenues.
[edit] Motorsport
Petronas was one of the main sponsors of the Sauber Formula One team, and it supplies lubricants and fuel to the team. It also owned 40 percent of Sauber Petronas Engineering, the company that builds chassis which formerly utilized Ferrari designed engines used by the Sauber team, until being bought out by German motor company BMW. Petronas is also the main sponsor for Malaysian Grand Prix and co-sponsors the Chinese Grand Prix. For the 2006 Formula One season, Petronas is the exclusive premium partner of the newly-formed BMW Sauber F1 Team. BMW has acquired the controlling stake of the former Sauber Petronas Engineering. Petronas also sponsors the Malaysian Cub Prix races.
It also sponsors many other sporting events and teams, mostly motorsports. Some of these sponsorships includes the PERT (Petronas EON Rally Team), the now defunct Foggy Petronas Superbike team (in which Petronas debutes their own superbike, the FP1), and also the Petronas Kembara, a 4X4 adventure team.
In terms of further Formula One involvement, every year Petronas takes the BMW-Sauber teams to various parts of Malaysia for F1 demos so the public who are unable to go to the track itself get to experience a little bit of what F1 offers. Other promotional events are held in the run up to the race and the drivers play an integral part in this so much so that Nick Heidfeld concedes that there are more fans for BMW-Sauber in Malaysia in than most other countris.
As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, Petronas also brings underpriveledged kids to watch the race.
[edit] Education
Petronas awards education sponsorships in the form of convertible loans to Malaysian and international students to further their studies at local or foreign universities. The Petronas unit that is responsible for handling education matters is called the Education Sponsorship Unit (ESU). These sponsorships are awarded based on academic results, co-curricular activities, family background as well as an assessment of student personality (which is conducted throughout a program called EduCamp, which all prospective Petronas students are required to undergo). Students who are absorbed by Petronas at the end of their tertiary studies have their convertible loans converted into full scholarships. These students are under contract agreement to work for the company for two years for every one year they are sponsored.
