Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. said Wednesday it will invest $13 million to upgrade its 110,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Batangas to produce bitumen.
“The corporation has taken the decision to proceed with the upgrade of its Tabangao Refinery to enable production of bitumen. The capital investment is estimated at $13 million,” Shell said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday.
Shell announced in November a plan to put up a bitumen facility as a part of its two- to three-year investment program.
“We do have plans to provide further investments in the refinery, not to expand capacity but to ensure that it continues to be efficient so we have plans to put up a bitumen production facility and it is well in line with the infrastructure plans of the government,” Pilipinas Shell country manager Cesar Romero said earlier.
Romero said the bitumen facility and refinery improvements would bring additional value to the company now that its shares were listed in the stock exchange. Bitumen, a crucial component of asphalt, is used for road surfacing and roofing.
The company recently completed the refinery upgrade program costing $150 million that allowed Pilipinas Shell to meet the new Philippine National Standards for ‘Euro IV (PH)’ grade diesel and gasoline.
“Certainly, the bitumen facility is expected to be up and running probably in two to three years. The efficiency improvement is to early to tell,” Romero said.
“We are very excited about that because it will allow us to produce bitumen. As we all know, infrastructure is a priority in the country. It allows us to participate more in the road building,” the said.
Shell is the country’s second largest oil company with nearly 1,000 retail stations nationwide.
