Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. budgeted P12 billion in capital expenditures in the next three years for its refinery upgrade, bitumen facility and retail network expansion.
Pilipinas Shell, the country’s second biggest oil refiner, plans to put up 1,200 retail stations around the country by 2020 while instituting refinery improvements to allow for longer refinery turnaround and increased efficiencies.
The company owns a 110,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Tabangao, Batangas.
“It’s roughly P4 billion capex budget [a year] for the next three years for expansion on retail network as well as refinery optimization and enhancement,” Jose Jerome Pascual III, Pilipinas Shell chief finance officer, told reporters.
Pilipinas Shell president and chief operating officer Cesar Romero said the refinery enhancements would help increase turnaround period to six years from four years.
“We continue to evaluate the opportunity to enhance robustness of our refinery, we are looking at enhancing hydrogen balance in our refinery to increase the turnaround from four years to six years and allow it to process more sour crude,” Romero said.