Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state oil company, said profit dropped 96% last quarter after it was hit by oil prices that remained sharply lower than a year earlier. Net income fell to $86 million in the three months through June, from $2.25 billion a year ago, the company told Bloomberg on Monday. Revenues also slid 21% to $12 billion. “The first half of 2016 remained difficult for Petronas,” Chief Executive Officer Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “The continuous volatility of oil prices means that we cannot let up, but instead continue to grow on the back of better operational efficiencies, more controllable" spending on operations, he said. Petronas, as the company is known, said earlier this year a change in its business structure will result in the loss of about 1,000 jobs as it joined global oil majors, including Royal Dutch Shell, in cutting spending as crude prices fell. The company had about 51,000 workers at the end of 2014.
