Petron set to issue $500-million senior notes

Petron Corp. will be tapping the capital market to raise $500 million via the issuance of US dollar-denominated senior notes.

The oil firm on Tuesday said its board has authorized the deal, proceeds from which would be used to rehabilitate a power plant within the premises of its oil refining facility in Bataan as well as for debt repayment.

Petron aims to finish the construction of new facilities and structures of its existing power plant by the second half of the year. These would include the replacement of old generators to increase steam production and expand power generation capacity to 184 megawatts from 140 MW.

The company said the power plant could easily supply its consumption with the excess power to be sold to the grid.

Petron is also investing in the expansion of its polypropylene plant in order to increase capacity to 225,000 metric tons from 160,000. The project is set to be completed this year.

After reporting a P12.6-billion net loss in 2020, Petron said it saw an uptrend in sales volume in the nine months to September in 2021, thus hitting a consolidated net income of P4.99 billion.

According to the Department of Energy, Petron remains the leading fuel retailer in the country with a market share of 18.60 percent