Petron raises P3.6B from debt paper sale

Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil refiner and retailer, has successfully raised P3.6 billion from the sale of fixed-rate corporate notes.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Petron said it completed on Friday the offer and issuance of the notes. The fixed-rate corporate notes were issued to primary institutional investors. ING Bank N.V.’s Manila Branch acted as arranger and bookrunner for the transaction.

Petron, however, did not indicate in the disclosure what it planned to do with the proceeds from its latest fund-raising activity.

Petron has since been embarking on modernization and expansion programs that are expected to result in better yields, more efficient production and optimized distribution. These allowed the oil company to sustain market leadership and its growth momentum.

During the second quarter of the year, Petron embarked on its biggest and most ambitious project—the $2-billion Refinery Expansion Program (RMP-2) for its 180,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Limay, Bataan.

Upon the project’s completion in 2014, Petron is expected to be able to “digest” cheaper crude oil from more sources, convert its low-margin fuel oil production to white products (liquefied petroleum gas, diesel and gasoline) and petrochemicals and be the only oil company capable of locally producing Euro IV-compliant fuels.

The company has also been successful in implementing its network expansion program over the past few years.

Petron has almost 1,800 service stations nationwide, the largest network in the oil industry by far.