The Philippines’ sole remaining crude oil refiner sustained an P11.4-billion net loss in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic and following a P2.3-billion net income in 2019.
Even then, Petron Corp. said in a statement it saw growth in the last two quarters last year after enduring a “historic slump” in the second when the strictest community quarantine restrictions were in effect.
In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, the company chalked up consolidated revenues of P69.6 billion when sales volume reached 19 million barrels.
Petron said these were achieved despite the continued implementation of general community quarantine in key cities of the Philippines including the National Capital Region, as well as a repeat implementation of the “conditional movement control order” in Malaysia, where it also operates.
In the fourth quarter, Petron enjoyed a consolidated net income of P1.2 billion as fuel prices began to rally.
Still, Petron said refining margins remained soft, putting into question the economic viability of the company’s Philippine operations.
Full-year consolidated sales volume dropped by 27 percent to 78.6 million barrels in 2020 from 107 million barrels in 2019.
Also, consolidated revenues fell by 44 percent to P286 billion last year from P514.4 billion in the previous year.
“We have been working hard to minimize the impact of the pandemic on our business and our performance in the second half of 2020 proves that we are moving in the right direction,” Petron president and chief executive Ramon Ang said.
“We look forward to sustaining our recovery as we anticipate higher demand and a more stable industry situation with an end to this crisis finally in sight,” he added.
In late 2020, Ang had warned that Petron’s refinery in Bataan province, had to undergo another “economic shutdown” as the tax regime—which the company said was continually lopsided in favor of fuel importers and at the expense of domestic refiners—was adding to their pandemic-related travails.