Petron Corp.’s 180,000-barrel refinery in Bataan province has resumed operations, its top executive said over the weekend, after being shut down for maintenance and economic reasons in May.
“Moving forward, we will work to ensure our operations are efficient, maintain high product and service quality levels, protect the jobs of our employees in every way we can, and continue to be a long-term partner in our country’s recovery and growth,” Petron president Ramon Ang said earlier.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the Philippine fuel industry, including Petron.
“Even Petron Corp. has not been spared, but we continue to be committed to serving Filipinos and doing our part in helping our country and economy manage the setbacks,” the executive said.
Petron suffered a consolidated net loss of P14.2 billion in the first half, a turnaround from a P2.6-billion net income on year, as the company reeled from the impact of the pandemic.
Petron’s inventory losses reached nearly P15 billion because of the combined slump in demand, poor refining margins and collapse in prices.
“We continue to improve our productivity and reduce our expenses to help the company cope with COVID-19’s impact. At the same time, we have initiated cash preservation initiatives and prudently manage our capex,” Ang said.
Petron’s consolidated revenues also fell 40 percent in the six-month period to P152.4 billion from P254.8 billion in the same period last year.
Consolidated sales volume from its Philippine and Malaysian operations went down 19 percent to 41.9 million barrels from 51.9 million barrels a year ago amid a sharp decline in fuel demand because of COVID-19’s impact.
Domestic sales volume dropped 28 percent on reduced consumption, particularly in aviation and retail, with the implementation of stricter quarantine protocols in the country.
Petron has a combined refining capacity of 268,000 barrels-per-day including its Malaysian operations and produces a full range of world-class fuels and petrochemicals.
Ang said he was optimistic of better figures in the second half as the economy slowly recovered.
“The company forecasts modest gains from inventory of about P3.5 billion in the second half of the year as prices start to recover. As the economy slowly reopens, we will need to find new ways to adapt to these new and unprecedented economic realities and remain resilient. Just as we have survived many hardships in the past, we know we can rely on our strong corporate culture to pull us through this most challenging period,” said Ang.
Nearly all Petron service stations reopened or resumed normal operating hours given the more relaxed quarantine restrictions.
Petron assured the public that its service stations remained safe and COVID-free. The company owns 2,800 service stations where it sells gasoline and diesel.
Petron said that on top of its already stringent standards, stricter safety protocols were in place at its service stations to ensure that customers and personnel were protected from any threat of the virus.
“Expanding our safety protocols at our stations was something that we immediately did at the start of the pandemic. This includes temperature checks for our personnel, wearing of face masks, physical distancing, more frequent sanitation, and even promoting cashless payment. We also enforce even more rigid guidelines to reduce health risks and keep our facilities and communities safe,” Ang said.