Petron income down 32% in 1st qtr

Market leader Petron Corp. yesterday posted a net income of P445 million for the first quarter of 2003, 32 percent lower than the P652-million earnings for the same period in 2002.

The oil company attributed the decline to the emergency shutdown of its largest crude distillation unit for three weeks in February.

The temporary shutdown, it said, forced the company to import finished products at a time when international prices were at peak levels.

Petron’s total sales volume, on the other hand, improved to 12.7 million barrels from January to March this year, up by 15 percent from 11.1 million barrels.

The improved sales performance, Petron said, was driven by higher export and industrial sales which posted increases of 32 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Sales revenues for the period increased by 52 percent from P18.7 billion in 2002 to P28.5 billion in 2003.

"Despite the temporary setback we endured early this year, we remain optimistic that our margins will continue to improve as crude prices stabilize," Petron public affairs manager Virginia Ruivivar said.

"In the meantime, we continue to focus on enhancing internal efficiencies to create a robust platform for future growth," Ruivivar said.

Petron retained its market leadership with a total share of 39.8 percent, relative to the two other local refiners.

In a quarterly meeting, the Petron board also approved a cash dividend of 20 centavos per share to stockholders of record as of May 29, 2003.

In February this year, Petron, the country’s largest oil refiner, temporarily shutdown one of the oil processing units in its Bataan refinery.

In a letter to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) disclosure department, Petron corporate secretary Liberador Villegas said the shutdown was caused by technical problems and will require thorough inspection and repair work.

During the shutdown period, Petron operated its refinery at a reduced throughput of 80,000 barrels per day. Under normal circumstances, the average refinery throughput is around 125,000 per day.

Petron, so far, is the only publicly-listed oil refiner in the country. Its Bataan refinery has a total capacity of 180,000 per day.