Oil price 'should remain' under $80: Petronas CEO

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said Friday its net profit surged nearly 50 percent in the latest quarter on higher oil prices but warned the weak global economy could hit full-year profits.Profit at Malaysia's biggest company in the three months to June 30, the first quarter of the country's financial year, grew 48.6 percent from the same period a year earlier to 21.7 billion ringgit ($7.27 billion)."In a nutshell, the first quarter was quite a good run for Petronas," chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas told reporters at a press conference.

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas has agreed to buy Canada's Progress Energy Resources for $5.3 billion to secure stable supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from North America, it said."This acquisition will provide Petronas with significant long term strategic gas resources in a geopolitically stable region," its president and chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas said in a statement late Thursday.The deal would cement Petronas' position as a major global LNG player, he added.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Petronas aims to overcome Canada's opposition to its $5.2 billion bid for Progress Energy Resources by adding more independent directors to the board of the gas producer, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper cited the Malaysian state oil firm's chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas as saying in an interview that Petronas was prepared to make the move to soothe Canada's concerns about a lack of transparency after the takeover. ...

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak asked his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper to reverse the initial rejection of Petroliam Nasional Bhd.’s $5.2-billion takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp., correspondence between the two leaders shows.

Oil prices fell on Monday as traders took profits and geared up for this week's key OPEC meeting in Vienna.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, sank $1.09 to $99.13 per barrel.Brent North Sea crude for July fell $1.29 to $114.55 in morning deals.Oil had fallen sharply on Friday after publication of dismal US jobs figures for May but recovered by the end of the day for a modest loss.

AFP - Oil prices fell on Monday as traders took profits and geared up for this week's key OPEC meeting in Vienna.