Petron planning new refinery in Bataan

PETRON CORP. is planning to add a new petroleum refinery in Bataan that will boost its capacity by 100,000 barrels daily.

“We are set to recommend to the board of Petron to build a new refinery of 100,000 barrels a day,” Ramon S. Ang, Petron chief executive officer and president, told reporters at the sidelines of the 44th Philippine Business Conference and Expo at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

“Once the board approves we can start negotiating with the vendor and so maybe we can start building by next year,” he added, noting that construction of the facility may take three to four years to complete.

Mr. Ang said the company will shell out an initial $3 billion for the additional refinery that will produce high-grade or Euro 6 petrochemical, diesel and gasoline.

Asked if this is part of the plant’s planned expansion, Mr. Ang responded in the negative, saying this is a “grand new plan.”

Last year, Petron unveiled an expansion project that would boost its current capacity to 270,000 by 2019 from the current 180,000 barrels daily.

Of the new plan, Mr. Ang said this “will address the gasoline and diesel and jet fuel requirement of our country.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Ang said the company can sell diesel at a cheaper price than the diesel that the government plans to import from Singapore.

This was in reaction to the Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp.’s announcement of its plan to import an initial 50,000 metric tons of diesel from Singapore within the month.

“Sabi ko, di na sila kailangan mag-import kasi habol lang nila tax-free, excise tax-free, VAT-free. Eh di bumili nalang sila sa Petron. Mas mababa pa ang presyo kaysa bumili sila sa Singapore kasi wala na silang babayaran na freight (I told them they don’t need to import because they only want to get it tax-free, the excise tax-free, VAT-free. They should buy from Petron. The price would be cheaper than if they buy from Singapore since they won’t have to pay for freight),” Mr. Ang said.

He noted that Petron’s prices would be cheaper without the 12% VAT.

“Kung sila mag-import, di ko alam pano nila idi-distribute. I think kailangan nila pag-aralan mabuti bago sila magplano (If they will import, I don’t know how they will distribute. I think they need to study better before they plan this),” Mr. Ang said.

Shares in Petron climbed 1.55% or 13 centavos to finish at P8.50 apiece on Thursday.