Petron profit up 30% to P14.1 billion last year

MANILA, Philippines — Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner, reported a 30 percent jump in net earnings in 2017, driven by strong sales here and abroad.

The company’s net income reached P14.1 billion last year versus the previous year’s earnings of P10.8 billion.

Consolidated sales revenue rose 26 percent from P343.8 billion to P434.6 billion in 2017, while operating income increased by 16 percent to P27.6 billion.

Petron attributed the robust performance to strong sales volume and continued focus on high-value segments in its Philippine and Malaysia operations.

“We were able to capture increased fuel demand with the robust growth in the Philippine and Malaysian economies. Underpinned by large scale infrastructure projects, we see strong demand growth in both markets over the medium-term and this bodes well for our business,” Petron president and CEO Ramon Ang said.

The oil firm broke its sales record of 105.7 million barrels in 2016 after sales volume grew to 107.8 million in 2017.

Its consolidated retail volume also grew eight percent as the company continued to expand in the competitive segment, breaching the 3,000 service station count during the year.

Sales of high-margin products such as gasoline, Jet A-1 and lubricants grew double digits in 2017. Notably,Petron launched the first and only Euro 6 fuel in the Philippine market – Blaze 100 Euro 6 – early last year.

Meanwhile, lubricants such as Blaze Racing helped grow this business by 15 percent.

Both products were put to the ultimate test as the official fuel and engine oil in the Formula 4 Southeast Asia Championships held in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

However, Petron said sales would have been much higher if not for scheduled maintenance turnarounds in both its 180,000 barrel-per-day Bataan refinery and its 88,000 barrel-per-day Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia.

Contributing to the positive performance was the good margins and additional revenue provided by petrochemicals (e.g. propylene), which expanded nine percent in volume.

Moving forward, Petron is looking to expand its logistics and retail network in both countries to meet more demand.

“Even with our strong presence backed by our unmatched logistics and production capabilities, we are committed to invest more and help secure the country’s energy needs,” Ang said.

Petron ranked among the world’s top energy companies in a recent survey conducted by a global information agency, the only Filipino oil company to make it to this prestigious list. It placed 14th among downstream oil companies in the Asia-Pacific region.