Petronas' pre-tax profit for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2014 was marginally higher at RM78 billion against RM76.7 billion in the same period last year.

The national oil company's revenue grew to RM249.78 billion for the period under review from RM232.51 billion previously.

Executive Vice-President/Group Chief Financial Officer, Datuk George Ratilal said the better performance was due to higher production volume, higher liquefied natural gas sales volume and favourable exchange rate.

For the third quarter, however, Petronas' pre-tax profit fell 12 per cent to RM22.8 billion on the back of lower revenue of RM80.37 billion.

"The weaker performance was mainly due to lower crude price," he told a media briefing on the group's third quarter performance here today.