At the helm of this success story is Tan Sri Hassan Merican.

A chartered accountant by
profession and former partner of a ‘big five’ firm, Hanafiah Raslan Mohamad, Hassan was
brought in as a finance man and took over the CEOship from Tan Sri Azizan Zainal Abidin
fourteen years ago. His stewardship provided clear strategic plans and initiatives, that
moved  Petronas to be a global oil and gas company. Partnership and strategic alliance were
formed and now, Petronas is able to compete with some its original ‘production sharing
partners’, in very competitive international markets. Presently, with offices and operations in
more than 64 countries, Petronas is the most respected and profitable state owned oil corporation.
Not only ranked as the 95th largest corporation in the world in the renowned Fortune 500 list,
Petronas is now regarded as one of the ‘New Seven Sisters’.

The "New Seven Sisters"

The Financial Times has used the label the "New Seven Sisters" to describe a group of what it
argues are the most influential national oil and gas companies based in countries outside of the
OECD.[1] According to the Financial Times this group comprises:

 China National Petroleum Corporation (China)

 Gazprom (Russia)
 National Iranian Oil Company (Iran)
 Petrobras (Brazil)
 PDVSA (Venezuela)
 Petronas (Malaysia)
 Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)

Petronas Dagangan Berhad, its downstream creature is now listed at Bursa Malaysia. Proud of
posting over RM 800 million in profits, it has the largest network of petrol and diesel retail in
Malaysia. The ‘Mesra’ convenient stores have now earned its place amongst Malaysian hearts.