In a move to prepare its re-entry into the list of syariah-compliant stocks, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd has signed a US$2.3bil (RM8.15bil) equivalent Islamic facility agreement, converting a portion of its existing multi-currency loan.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd has appointed Chow Mei Mei as its new CFO. Chow Mei Mei will replace Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Kamadjaja Aziz effective 8 January 2015.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd will not be affected by the cut in expenditure by Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), said its PGCEO, Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin.

Research houses have maintained 'buy' calls on SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd following its solid net profit of RM1.1 billion for the nine months of financial year ending January 31, 2015. Strong earnings growth driven by acquisitions of tender rigs and energy businesses and higher contributions from the offshore construction segment.

The plunging price of crude oil serves as a "wake-up call" for all players and forces them to rethink their business model, said Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin of SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd. SapuraKencana boss says players should rethink business models.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd group's after-tax profit rose to RM1.3 billion in the first nine months of financial year 2015 compared with RM787 million in the corresponding period of financial year 2014 Net profit rose 41.9 percent in the third quarter, on contribution from newly acquired upstream units.

MIDF Investment Research (MIDF Research) believes SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd's order book is robust enough to withstand short-term shocks as about 70 per cent of the group's orders are from domestic oil companies and 18 per cent from international players. Group can withstand short-term stocks as most of its jobs are local.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd said its fabrication, hook-up and commissioning division has received three contracts with a combined value of RM710 million, while its offshore construction and subsea services division has been awarded contracts worth a combined RM520 million. SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd's units have bagged contracts with a combined value of RM1.58 billion.

SapuraKencana Petroleum’s US$400 million purchase of PETRONAS' assets displays its rising stature as an upstream (O&G) asset owner and operator, MIDF Research said. MIDF Research stated that the main reason for the acquisition was to rebalance their upstream portfolio.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd has won the bid to acquire the entire interest of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) in three oil blocks offshore South Vietnam for a total purchase price of US$400mil (RM1.35bil). The closing of the transaction though is still subject to the approval of the relevant government authorities.