Petron Corp., the biggest oil company, announced Tuesday a capital expenditure budget of P15 billion for 2018, almost the same level as the previous year’s.
Petron senior vice president and chief finance officer Emmanuel Erana said Petron would earmark P10 billion for domestic operations and P5 billion for its Malaysian business.
He said about two-thirds of the P10 billion for local capex would be spent for network expansion while one-third for refinery improvement.
Petron plans to put up around 150 to 200 new retail stations in the Philippines and around 50 in Malaysia this year.
Petron general manager Lubin Nepomuceno said the company planned to invest in a continuous catalytic reforming unit that would pave the way for the company to produce petrochemicals, such as mixed xylene, toluene and xylene, for sale in the export market.
Petron plans to complete the basic engineering design study for the CCRU this year and investment decision by the first quarter next year.
