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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo Reporter
PETRON Corp. said profits last
year grew by a single digit on the back of
improved operating efficiencies and an increase in sales volume.
In a statement, the country’s
biggest oil refiner said its net income rose by 6.3 percent to P6.4
billion after its domestic sales from its traditional business line
registered a slight increase.
The company saw its domestic
sales volumes increase by 2 percent to 41.81 million barrels.
Overall sales volumes increased to 52.23 million barrels last year
from 51.97 million the previous year.
Despite the rise in volumes, the
company’s overall sales revenues went down to P210.52 billion last
year from P211.73 billion in 2006 with the expiration of its mixed
xylene income tax income holiday.
“Despite a difficult business
environment, we were able to focus on key initiatives to cement our
market leadership and sustain our growth momentum,” Kamal M. Al-Yahya,
Petron president, said.
The oil refiner earlier
diversified into petrochemicals, having completed recently its Petro
Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC) plant and Propylene Recovery
Unit (PRU) units at its 180,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Bataan.
The innovations would allow it to convert black products such as
fuel oil to liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, among others,
and to extract the petrochemical feedstock propylene.
The PetroFCC has a conversion
capacity of 19,000 barrels per day while the PRU will produce
140,000 metric tons of propylene a year. The two units were
commissioned in February and March, respectively.
The PetroFCC and the PRU are core
components of the first phase of the company’s $300-million
Refinery Master Plan, which also includes a BTX unit that would
produce aromatics namely benzene, toluene, and mixed xylene. The BTX
unit is scheduled for completion in the first quarter next year.
Early this month, Aramco Overseas
Co. (AOC), which holds a 40 percent stake in Petron, announced its
plan to sell its entire stake to UK-listed Ashmore Group for $550
million.
The government, which likewise
controls a 40-percent stake in Petron through state-owned Philippine
National Oil Co. (PNOC), has less than two months to decide on
whether it will exercise its preemptive rights or option to match
the offer, or assign this privilege to another buyer.
The remainder of Petron’s
shares are listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange where they closed
flat at P5.7 on Wednesday.
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