Oil company Petron Corp. is expanding its oil refineries in Malaysia and the Philippines to increase efficiency levels and production, a top executive said.
“Expansion of oil refinery in Malaysia is a big investment… The refinery will be expanded to produce petrochemicals and aromatics from 80,000 to 150,000 barrels a day,” Petron president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said.
Petron acquired Esso Malaysia’s Port Dickson refinery and fuel retail network in Malaysia in 2011.
“Here [in the Philippines], we will also expand from 180,000 [barrels per day] to 270,000 [barrels per day],” Ang said.
Petron owns an oil refinery in Bataan province with a capacity of 180,000 barrels a day.
The company started full commercial operations of the $2-billion upgraded refinery in 2016, enabling the company to produce more high-margin fuels and petrochemicals.
Ang previously announced plans to put up a new 250,000-barrel-per-day refinery that would cost around $10 billion to $15 billion.
The company plans to take in partners for the new refinery.
“I hope to be able to invite one of the big boys like Aramco or Kuwait Petroleum to come and put up a new oil refinery. There a lot of big-time companies that want to put up an oil refinery here,” Ang said.
The executive said he would also invite William Wang, owner of Taiwanese firm Formosa to invest in the new refinery.
He said that once he convinced the investors, Petron would immediately put up the new refinery which would take three and a half to four years to build “and by then, the demand is already very big.”
Ang also said Petron’s existing Bataan refinery had no space for expansion. “And we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket,” he said.
Petron posted a consolidated net income of P5.6 billion in the first quarter, the highest quarterly income in the company’s history and double the earnings of P2.8 billion a year ago.
Net income from Philippine operations grew 69 percent to P4.1 billion and accounted for 74 percent of consolidated figures, while income from Malaysian operations surged 335 percent to P1.5 billion.
Petron attributed its exceptional performance in both markets to a strong focus on more profitable segments, production of higher-margin fuels and petrochemicals and aggressive market expansion.
“We are definitely setting our sights on an even better performance this year as we derive more benefits from our strategic investments. Demand for fuels remains strong coming from the transportation, aviation, and manufacturing sectors where we are well-entrenched and poised to grow,” Ang said.