Oil refiner and distributor Petron Corp. plans to establish 12 retail stations along the 88.5-kilometer, two-lane Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, a top executive said over the weekend.
Petron president and chief executive Ramon Ang told reporters the TPLEx stations would be a part of the company’s expansion program.
“Yes, the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, we think it has higher volume because it’s long distance. Those who use TPLEx go to Baguio, Ilocos, La Union,” he said.
Ang clarified that before Petron could put up any station along TPLEx, it would need to get an approval from the Toll Regulatory Board.
“Because of its length, [TPLEx can accommodate] six [stations] going north and six going south,” he said.
Petron’s parent firm San Miguel Corp., through the Private Infra DevCorp., the concessionaire in TPLEx, provides management services, toll collection, traffic safety and security management, toll road maintenance and other related services along the expressway.
TPLEx connects the central and northern Luzon provinces to Manila through the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway.
Petron targets to put up over 250 new service stations in the Philippines and Malaysia in 2016. There are nearly 2,800 Petron stations combined in the two countries.
Petron expects net income to reach P15 billion to P18 billion this year, up from P6.27 billion in 2015.
Ang said the projected higher net income would largely come from the recently upgraded 180,000-barrel-per-day refinery.
“Driven by a more efficient oil refinery. The oil refinery has a liquid yield of 60, 66 to 67 percent but with the upgrade, it’s now 92 to 93 percent,” Ang said.
Petron’s $2-billion refinery upgrade started full commercial operation in January with higher utilization rate and increased production of higher-value fuel. It utilizes cost-efficient heavier and petrochemicals.
He said the company would also continue with a retail expansion program both in the Philippines and in Malaysia.
“In Malaysia, we had a massive gas station network expansion. We just completed the rebranding,” Ang said.
He said the company would also upgrade the Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia. The company rebranded to Petron some 550 stations which it acquired from Exxon Mobil.
Petron reported consolidated net income of P2.8 billion in the first quarter, up from P257 million over the same period last year.
The company’s strong performance was boosted by higher sales from local and regional operations.
“We are now experiencing the full benefits of our strategic programs and we are gaining momentum as we reach new levels of growth and profitability,” Ang said.
Consolidated sales volume hit 25.3 million barrels in the first quarter, a 9-percent increase from 23.2 million barrels last year.
“We are definitely on track to deliver a stronger performance this year,” Ang said.
Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines and is a leading player in the Malaysian market.