Oil refiner and retailer Petron Corp. said Tuesday London-listed investment group Ashmore Group, through SEA Refinery Holdings BV, had acquired 50.57 percent of its stock.

Ashmore bought 10.57 percent of Petron from small investors between June 16 and July 14 at P6.531 per share, for a total of about $146 million, Petron disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

In May, Ashmore acquired 40 percent of Petron from Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Overseas Co. for $550 million. (Aramco bought that stake in 1994 for $535 million).

The Philippine government holds 40 percent of Petron and the balance is held by small investors.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves earlier said a decision would be made in the second half of the year on whether the government would sell or keep its 40-percent stake in Petron, which holds almost 40 percent of the Philippine oil market and is one of only two refiners in the Philippines. The other refiner is Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the number of Ashmore’s Petron board seats would not increase. “Based on the agreement, regardless of the increase in the share holdings of Ashmore, whether 50 or 60 percent, they will still have five seats on the board,” he said.

Reyes added that the representative of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. would keep the position of board chairman, with the president to come from Ashmore.

The chief executive position will be rotated every year, he added.

When asked whether the high oil prices would make the government decide to hold on to its Petron shares, Reyes said it was “a different matter that would have to be discussed later.”

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Sunday appealed to Petron to reduce diesel prices by P1.50 a liter. When the company acceded to the appeal, other oil companies followed suit. Abigail L. Ho, with a report from Agence France-Presse; edited by INQUIRER.net