The new Petronas CEO

From the Edge:

Finding the balance now falls to Wan Zulkiflee, 54. He’ll succeed Shamsul Azhar Abbas as president and chief executive officer of Petroliam Nasional Bhd. in April, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement via state news service Bernama yesterday.

Wan Zulkiflee is currently chief operating officer and head of Petronas’ downstream business. He oversees the company’s $27 billion spending plan in a refining and petrochemicals project in the southern Johor state bordering Singapore.

That’s one of two major investments Petronas is working on, the other is a C$36 billion liquefied natural gas project in Canada’s British Columbia.

The previous Petronas CEO was fairly unpopular among the political elite, so I suppose it is no surprise a new CEO will be taking the helm in a few months.  ex PM Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed has criticized the oil giant for using more international companies in contracts than domestic ones.

Perhaps this will earmark a new phase in domestic oil services expansion.  Another criticism of the previous CEO was a cut in operating expenditures due to the oil price.  I haven't any clue whether this may be influencing the firing, but it could be a factor as domestic money seems to be more important than ever as Malaysia braces for GST and the Ringgit keeps on tumbling.

Judging by the excerpt, the new boss does concentrate on the spending side of things. So the possibility for a higher boom in spending for oil prices is possible.  If he wants to keep his job, I think he will not make decisions too liberally as the previous one did.