Oil and gas stocks low

Oil and gas companies have been hard hit by the fall in the equities market and the ringgit, forcing some to scale back its operations.

At 10.26am, the ringgit had weakened to 4.1250 against the US dollar from the previous close of 4.0805.

The FBM KLCI fell 20.67 points or 1.29% to 1,576.15. Turnover was 661.34 million shares valued at RM331.12mil. Losers beat gainers 636 to 77 while 165 counters were unchanged.

US light crude oil fell 56 cents to US$41.94 and Brent 64 cents lower at RM48.55.

Petronas president and group CEO Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin saying last Friday that only 14 of Petronas’ oil rigs will be in operation by the end of this year, compared with 39 as at the end of last year.

The idling of over half of its oil rigs within a year is a clear indication of the challenges facing the industry which has had to endure collapsed crude oil prices for more than a year. Globally, the rig count, considered a proxy for industry activity, has fallen sharply since last June.

Bumi Armada fell to a fresh low of 89 sen since its listing. It was trading at 90 sen, down five sen.

Sapura Kencana Petroleum lost 12 sen to RM1.81 but off the earlier low of RM1.78. Dialog Group lost five sen to RM1.44. Petronas Gas lost 16 sen to RM21.06.

The KLCI was also dragged down by losses in Genting, Telekom Malaysia and Tenaga.

Genting lost 26 sen to RM7.24, Tenaga 22 sen to RM0.36 and TM 23 sen to RM6.19