Petron nets P8.5B

Petron Corp. posted a 7.6- percent increase in its consolidated net income to P8.5 billion in 2011 from the previous year’s P7.9 billion, due to higher export sales.

In a statement, Petron said its sales rose by 19.7 percent to P274 billion last year from P229 billion in 2010, even as total demand for fuel products contracted by 5 percent due to lower fuel consumption of power plants.

Petron’s sales volume was flat while those of its competitors dropped.

As of end-2011, Petron remained the industry leader with a market share of 38 percent. It led in all major market segments—retail, industrial and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It also became No. 1 in the lubricants segment.

“We see more contributions from higher margin petrochemicals. Seeing this potential, we have made a substantial investment in our Bataan refinery to produce more white products and scale up petrochemical production significantly,” Petron chairman Ramon S. Ang said.—Amy R. Remo