Petron profit nearly triples

MANILA, Philippines - Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil refiner, posted a net income of P3 billion in the first half of the year, nearly tripled from the P1.1 billion earnings a year ago.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Petron president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang attributed the profit boost to higher sales from both the company’s Philippine and Malaysian operations.

“Combined sales volumes increased by eight percent reaching 43.1 million barrels for the period from 39.8 million barrels last year. This translated to consolidated sales revenues of P258.2 billion, 18 percent higher compared to P218.8 billion in the first half of 2013,” he said.

By country, sales volume in the Philippines rose 10 percent to 25.1 million barrels on the back of service station expansion and increased economic activity.

Petron has close to 2,200 stations nationwide and is seeing increased industrial growth from the fishing and power generation sectors which are using power generators amid the tight power situation.

The increase is higher in the Philippines compared to Malaysia wherein volumes increased six percent to 18 million barrels during the period on the back of stronger network, industrial and liquefied petroleum gas sales.

“The company’s rebranding and upgrading is in full swing with 380 out of 550 service stations already converted to the Petron brand. Ten new Petron stations have also been established. Petron Gasul, which was launched less than two years ago in the Malaysia market, helped improve sales in this sector,” the company said regarding its business in Malaysia. 

 “Our expansion, logistics, and branding initiatives have enabled us to deliver strong results across major business segments. This bodes well for the company ahead of RMP-2’s commissioning which will further boost our production and refining margins,” Ang said.

The company’s $2-billion Refinery Master Plan 2 is Petron’s largest project.

Under the project, Petron will expand the capacity of its refinery to its full capacity of 180,000 barrels-per-day and ensure local fuel supply for the country’s growing demand. 

The country’s fuel demand rose by five percent in 2013 and is expected to accelerate in the coming years.

The refinery will allow Petron to produce the more stringent Euro-4 standard fuels.