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Petron Corp. said profits in 2007 grew on the back of improved operating efficiencies and an increase in sales volume.
In a statement, the country’s biggest oil refiner said its net income rose by 6.3 percent to P6.4 billion after its domestic sales from its traditional business line registered a slight increase.
The company saw its domestic sales volumes increase by 2 percent to 41.81 million barrels. Overall sales volumes increased to 52.23 million barrels last year from 51.97 million the previous year.
Despite the rise in volumes, the company’s overall sales revenues went down to P210.52 billion last year from P211.73 billion in 2006 with the expiration of its mixed xylene income tax income holiday.
“Despite a difficult business environment, we were able to focus on key initiatives to cement our market leadership and sustain our growth momentum,” Kamal M. Al-Yahya, Petron president, said.
The oil refiner earlier diversified into petrochemicals, having completed recently its Petro Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC) plant and Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU) units at its 180,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Bataan. The innovations would allow it to convert black products such as fuel oil to liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, among others, and to extract 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 a year. The two units were commissioned in February and March, respectively.
The PetroFCC and the PRU are core components of the first phase of the company’s $300-million Refinery Master Plan, which also includes a BTX unit that would produce aromatics namely benzene, toluene, and mixed xylene. The BTX unit is scheduled for completion in the first quarter next year.
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