Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 5) — Petron Corporation registered ₱3.6 billion in the first nine months of the year amid volatile market conditions.
In a disclosure on the Philippine Stock Exchange, the country’s leading oil company said that this income was 70 percent less than what it earned in the same period last year due to lower sales volume.
“The company’s sales volume declined mainly due to lower Philippine volumes by 7 percent as a result of its Bataan Refinery’s emergency shutdown in April, partially cushioned by Malaysia’s volume increase of 2 percent,” Petron said in the disclosure.
The Petron Bataan Refinery, with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day, had to shut down temporarily in April due to a magnitude 6.1 earthquake that hit northern Luzon. It resumed normal operations in early August.
Amid these conditions, Petron was still able to open over 100 new gas stations in the Philippines and 38 new stations in Malaysia.
Moving forward, Petron President and CEO Ramon Ang said that they will help in the efforts to curb oil smuggling through the government’s fuel marking program.
“This level playing field is what we hope will prevail in the entire country once the fuel marking program is in place. We fully support and look forward to its implementation, but at the same time, we reiterate that this mechanism will only work if all players go by the same rules,” Ang said in the disclosure.
READ: Gov’t starts fuel marking
