Petron Resumes Refinery Operations in Bataan

Petron Corp. (PSE: PCOR) announced it will resume normal operations at its Bataan Refinery after completing scheduled repair works, including damages incurred during the April 22 earthquake that affected Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

The company also disclosed first semester results, reflecting modest gains amidst the slump in regional refining margins that penalized Philippine operations by as much as PhP5 billion during the period.

First half consolidated sales revenues reached PhP254.8 billion, down 7% from the same period last year. While Malaysian sales volume grew by 4% and partly offset that of the Philippines, the decrease in Philippine sales reflects decline in volume due to the implementation of the second tranche of TRAIN Law, which brought total fuel taxes to an average of PhP6.75 per liter equivalent to over PhP15 billion excise taxes for the first half. Furthermore, such developments encouraged illegal business practices during the period.

Amid all these, the company continued to pursue its network expansion program, completing 72 stations in the Philippines during the first half of 2019. Petron also rolled out about 24 new stations in Malaysia to reflect its growing market share.

Petron still managed to book a net income of PhP2.6 billion, made possible by the strong results from Malaysia and extensive savings on fixed costs by the group. This is significantly down by 72% versus same period last year.

“These setbacks are just temporary and are all part of the business. We remain optimistic for the second half of the year given signs of modest recovery from gasoline and petrochemical margins recently seen in the market,” said Petron President and CEO Ramon S. Ang.