Oil company Petron Corp. is embarking on a $5-billion refinery expansion that will bring the capacity of its Bataan facility to 360,00 barrels a day in three years.
Petron president Ramon Ang said the expansion of the existing facility would be done in phases at 90,000 barrels per day for each phase. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2019 and the next phase by 2020.
“[For] the next expansion of our refinery, we will be adding another 90,000 bpd so from 180,000 bpd, we will be hitting 270,000 bpd,” Ang said.
Petron owns the existing 180,000 bpd refinery in Limay, Bataan.
“We can start [the first phase] in 2018, to be completed in 2019. We forecast an increase in income,” he said.
Ang said the first phase would cost $1.5 billion while the second phase would require $3.5 billion. He said the expansion would help produce more petrochemical products.
“The next one, we will put up another 90,000 bpd, but it will no longer be $1.5 billion. It may be around $3.5 billion because the first phase [would involve] just de-bottling necking and for electricity and steam, but the other 90,000 bpd [would be] totally new,” Ang said.
Petron announced in November that it was studying the next phase of its refinery upgrade and expansion aimed at increasing the production of high-margin fuels and petrochemicals.
Petron earlier invested $2 billion to upgrade its Bataan refinery to make it at par with the most advanced refineries in the region.
The project, dubbed Refinery Master Plan-2, allowed Petron to produce higher-value products such as gasoline and petrochemicals while eliminating negative margin fuel.
Petron reported a consolidated net income of P11.8 billion in the first nine months of 2017, or 58 percent higher than the previous year’s earnings of P7.4 billion.
Petron said the strong financial performance was driven by a continued focus on high-value segments and sustained sales volumes in the Philippines and Malaysia.
Combined sales volume hit 80.2 million barrels in the first three quarters of the year, slightly higher than 79.3 million barrels sold in the same period in 2016.
The company said that sales volumes would have been higher if not for scheduled maintenance. Petron’s Bataan refinery ran on maintenance mode below optimum capacity for 35 days in the second quarter and 18 days in the third quarter. Malaysia grew volume by 9 percent during the period.
Consolidated sales revenues in the first nine months of 2017 reached P313.5 billion, up 27 percent from 2016’s P247.8 billion. Operating income grew 31 percent to P22.1 billion from P16.8 billion.
“We will definitely have another banner year as we reap the benefits of our strategic programs. These have given us more diverse income streams and improved profitability,” Petron chairman Eduardo
Cojuangco Jr. said earlier.
“As the only Filipino-owned oil major, Petron is committed to making substantial investments to support the government’s call for fresh investments, new jobs, additional infrastructure and stronger
public-private partnerships,” Cojuangco said.
Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines and is a leading player in the Malaysian market.
It has a combined refining capacity of 268,000 barrels per day and produces a full range of world-class fuels and petrochemicals.