Petron Corp. is set to complete a 184-megawatt power plant in Bataan province this year as part of its refinery efficiency program, a top executive said Tuesday.
“Construction on our new and more efficient 184-MW power plant in Bataan is nearing completion. The new power plant will do away with the use of fuel oil, allowing the conversion of this feedstock into higher-value fuels,” Petron president and chief executive Ramon Ang said in a report.
The refinery solid fuel fired boiler phase 3 project involves additional state-of-the-art circulating fluidized bed boilers which will allow Petron to more efficiently generate steam and power for the refinery without taking from the Luzon grid.
Petron owns the country’s lone refinery in Bataan with a capacity of 180,000 barrels a day.
The power plant will eliminate fuel oil consumption and convert this into higher-value products such as gasoline and diesel.
It is one of the first power plants in the Philippines to use clean coal technology which reduces emissions by roughly 95 percent compared to normal coal plants.
“We expect the plant will be operational by the second half of 2022 following testing, synchronization and pre-commissioning activities,” Ang said.
Petron resumed operations of its polypropylene plant in early 2022 after a two-year shutdown following the significant improvement in prices of petrochemicals.
“This will allow us to leverage on the projected increase in demand for resins brought about by an improving global economy, shift towards online deliveries and high demand for personal protective equipment,” Ang said.
He said that despite uncertainties, sustaining the financial resilience of Petron helped ensure that the company has the means and capacity to keep growing its business.
“Strategic investments in service station expansion, refinery enhancements and supply chain management remain important parts of our roadmap for the future,” he said.
The company posted a net income of P6.14 billion in 2021, a reversal of the P11.4-billion net loss it incurred in 2020 when the pandemic first emerged.
Consolidated revenues went up 53 percent in 2021 to P438 billion from P286 billion a year earlier.
Petron sold 82 million barrels last year, up 5 percent year-on-year as economic activities started to resume in the second half of 2021.
“I would like to believe we’ve done much better now. But of course, we are still recovering to reach pre-pandemic level. We are very confident that we will soon have a better outcome than pre-pandemic,” Ang said when asked if Petron fully recovered from the health crisis.