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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Fuel costs may hurt TNB again (BT)

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) expects to be hit by high fuel costs again in the fourth quarter, mainly because of a prolonged gas supply shortage.

It had already posted a RM440 million loss in the third quarter, its first quarterly loss in three years, but chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh stopped short of saying if TNB would also lose money in the fourth quarter.

"The fourth quarter is going to be equally bad," he told Business Times in an interview yesterday.

The shortage of gas for the power sector means TNB has to spend some RM400 million extra a month to buy alternative fuel like distillates and medium fuel oil.

Petronas supplies gas to the power sector, but this has been disrupted by frequent maintenance by the national oil and gas company.

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