Petron Q1 profit hits P2.8B

Petron Corp. posted a tenfold surge in its first-quarter net income to P2.8 billion this year from P257 million in 2015 on higher sales from both its local and regional operations.

Consolidated sales volume hit 25.3 million barrels in the first quarter of the year, up 9 percent from the 23.2 million barrels in 2015. Sales volumes were up across all major business segments in both the Philippines and Malaysia.

Petron remained the country’s top oil firm with total sales growing by 8 percent in the first quarter. While it posted strong growth in reseller, industrial and LPG trades, Petron made headway in the local lubricants sector, where it posted a 16-percent growth.

In Malaysia, increasing confidence in the Petron brand translated into more industrial customers. This segment posted a 17-percent growth in the first three months of 2016 versus the same period in 2015. Service station volumes also improved.

The increase in sales volume partially offset the drop in oil prices that led to lower sales revenue. Sales revenue for the period dropped by 11 percent to P77 billion from P86.7 billion in the first three months of 2015.

Operating income nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2016, to P5.8 billion from P3 billion in 2015.

Despite weak oil prices in the first few months of 2016, Petron said it enjoyed high margins on the price difference between crude and finished products. Petron’s $2-billion refinery upgrade project also supported margins with higher utilization of its 180,000 barrels-per-day capacity, increased production of higher-value fuels and petrochemicals and the use of cost-efficient heavier crude.

Petron said it would continue to focus on its network expansion program with the aim of building more than 250 new service stations in the Philippines and Malaysia in 2016. There are nearly 2,800 Petron stations combined.

“We are now experiencing the full benefits of our strategic programs and we are gaining momentum as we reach new levels of growth and profitability,” Petron president Ramon S. Ang said.

“We are definitely on track to deliver a stronger performance this year,” he said.