Thursday, March 27, 2008 Petron bares increase in income for 2007
LEADING oil refining and marketing firm Petron Corporation has posted a net income of P6.4 billion for the year 2007.
The income is higher by 6.3 percent from the P6.02 billion recorded in 2006, and this is despite the expiration of the mixed xylebe income tax holiday, said Petron in a statement.
The company saw its domestic sales volumes increase by two percent to 41.81 million barrels from 41.06 million barrels. Overall, total sales volumes increased to 52.23 million barrels last year from 51.97 million the previous year.
However, sales revenues slightly dropped from P211.73 billion in 2006 to P210.52 billion last year.
"Despite a difficult business environment, we were able to focus on key initiatives to cement our market leadership and sustain our growth momentum," said Petron president Kamal Al-Yahya.
Petron's market shares remains at 38.9 percent of the total market further increasing its lead over its nearest competitor.
Last year, the company launched two revolutionary products to add to its world-class product line.
Petron introduced the enhanced XCS Plus, which is the first gasoline in the Philippines to have organic combustion enhancers. The Sprint 4T, meanwhile, is specifically formulated for four-stroke motorcycles to provide optimum engine protection.
Aside from the additions in its fuel product line, Petron's market share was also boosted by its acquisition of Chevron's retail LPG business. This significantly increased LPG sales by nearly 25 percent.
Petron also completed the PetroFCC unit at its 180,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Bataan in 2007.
The PetroFCC is the first "cracking" unit of its kind in the world and has significantly improved operating efficiencies since it converts black products (fuel oil) to LPG, gasoline, diesel etc. It also enables the extraction of the petrochemical feedstock propylene.
From the PetroFCC, the propylene stream is purified in the PRU to produce the petrochemical feedstock propylene.
The PetroFCC has a conversion capacity of 19,000 barrels per day while the PRU will produce 140,000 metric tons of propylene annually. The two units were commissioned in February and March, respectively.
The PetroFCC and the PRU are core components of the company's US$300-million Refinery Master Plan phase 1 which also includes a BTX unit that would produce aromatics, namely, Benzene, Toluene, and increase Mixed Xylene production. The BTX unit is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2009.
"The start-up of these units signals the beginning of Petron's petrochemical age. We expect that our new petrochemical feedstocks will significantly contribute to our bottom line immediately," Petron chairman Nicasio Alcantara said.
"This also sets the stage for our further diversification into petrochemicals as we continue to pursue our strategic transformation program," he added.
Petron's partner Saudi Aramco sold its 40 percent stake to the Ashmore Group valued at US$550 million.
But Alcantara remains optimistic adding that the pullout of Saudi Aramco is not the end for Petron.
"We look at this (Amarco leaving and Ashmore entering) in a more positive way," he said. (MSN/Sunnex)
