RH Petrogas is drilling into the oil rush

“Sit in the pain until it passes” is exactly what Singapore-listed RH Petrogas (RHP) did as it felt the sting of the oil slump in 2015, followed by a pandemic-led historic oil crash 5 years later as many less-fortunate peers wobbled off the corporate sidewalk. 

The payoff has been sweet. As the clouds lifted last year and then some in 2022, surging demand and tight market conditions pushed crude prices pass US$100 a barrel (it hit a high of US$130/b in March). And investors lapped up RHP’s stock given the glint of a sharp reversal in fortunes.  

“We have come through 2 cycles in the last 7 years. The first one was really a near-death experience... we have weathered the storm, hunkered down and survived,” recalled RHP’s group chief executive and executive director Francis Chang Cheng-Hsing.