Petronas

PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, 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. Fortune ranks PETRONAS as the 68th largest company in the world in 2012. It also ranks PETRONAS as the 12th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia.

Since its incorporation, PETRONAS has grown to be an integrated international oil and gas company with business interests in 35 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 Financial Times has identified PETRONAS as one of the "new seven sisters": the most influential and mainly state-owned national oil and gas companies from countries outside the OECD.

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 provides a substantial source of income for the Malaysian government, with 45% of the government's budget dependent on Petronas' dividend, moreover in 2011 government actual balance has 5 percent deficit of Gross Domestic Product.

The company is headquartered at the Petronas Twin Towers which was officially opened on Malaysia's 42nd National Day, August 31, 1998 - in the Corporation's 24th Anniversary year.

Motorsport
PETRONAS was one of the main sponsors of the BMW Sauber Formula One team, and it supplies lubricants and fuel to the team. It also owned 40% 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. PETRONAS was the exclusive premium partner of the Sauber Petronas (1995–2005) and BMW Sauber F1 Team (2006–2009). BMW had acquired the controlling stake of the former Sauber Petronas Engineering, but left the sport after the 2009 season. On December 21, 2009, PETRONAS was confirmed as moving from BMW Sauber to the newly formed Mercedes Grand Prix team.

In terms of further Formula One involvement, every year PETRONAS took the BMW Sauber team 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 conceded that there were more fans for BMW Sauber in Malaysia than in most other countries.

As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, PETRONAS also brings underprivileged children to watch the race.

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 Adventure Team, a 4X4 adventure team. More recently Petronas is also a major sponsor for PETRONAS TOYOTA TEAM TOM'S which is currently participating in Super GT series, which they won the team title in 2008 and driver title in 2009. The series also races in Malaysia every season at Sepang International Circuit. PETRONAS signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with Fiat Yamaha motoGP team. The PETRONAS branding can be seen starting Qatar race on the 10 to 12 April 2009.

Since 2010, PETRONAS is also the main sponsor of Mercedes Grand Prix team.