Petron’s P20-B fixed-rate bond issue gets SEC nod

Petron Corp. has secured the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its P20-billion issue of peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds.

This is the last tranche of Petron’s shelf registration of up to P40 billion that took effect in 2016.

The first tranche of P20 billion was issued in the fourth quarter of that year, including P5 billion through an oversubscription option.

Earlier, creditwatcher Philippine Rating Services Corp. assigned a triple “A” or PRS Aaa rating with a “stable” outlook for the second tranche.

According to the Department of Energy, Petron accounted for about 27 percent—the biggest share—of the Philippines’ petroleum products market as of the end of June 2018.

In the segment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) alone, Petron represented 29 percent, which was also the biggest slice in the pie.

The company is engaged in a project to ramp up the rated capacity of its refinery in Bataan from 180,000 barrels a day to between 270,000 and 300,000 bpd.

Petron engaged a subsidiary of American conglomerate Honeywell to expand and upgrade its refinery in Bataan, with a planned 55-percent increase in capacity.

Petron processes crude oil into various products, including gasoline, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, kerosene and industrial fuel oil as well as petrochemical feedstock benzene, toluene, mixed xylene and propylene.