Petron rolls out Euro 4 diesel products

MANILA, Philippines - Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner, has started the local production of Euro 4- compliant diesel products, offering a full-range of premium fuels to the market in line with global standards ahead of the 2016 government mandatory deadline.

Petron announced yesterday its diesel products, Turbo Diesel and DieselMax, now meet global Euro 4 fuel standards.

This makes the oil firm the first and only company in the country to locally produce a full range of premium fuels that meet the cleaner and more efficient Euro 4 global benchmark.

Last June, Petron launched its Euro 4 gasoline products – Blaze 100 Euro 4 (RON 100), XCS (RON 95), Xtra Advance (RON 93) and Super Xtra (RON 91).

“We are proud that all of Petron’s Euro 4 fuels are made in the Philippines and are specially formulated to meet the unique needs of our customers. We can guarantee the quality and properties of our fuels since we produce them here, formulate them here, and test them here,” Petron president and CEO Ramon S. Ang said.

Euro 4 is a globally-accepted European emission standard for vehicles which require significantly low amount of sulfur and benzene.

Euro 4-compliant fuels have a significantly lower sulfur content of 50 ppm (parts per million) compared to the current Philippine standard of 500 ppm.

By Jan. 1, 2016, all gasoline products in the country must be Euro 4-compliant.

Petron fuels are locally produced at its refinery in Bataan and formulated for Philippine driving conditions.

The company has invested $2 billion for the Bataan Refinery Master Plan-2 (RMP-2) to make it at par with the most advanced refineries in the region.

With the upgrade, Ang earlier said Petron will continue its profitability towards the end of the year and next due to improved margins from the upgrade of its refinery, despite the continued drop in global crude prices.

From a three to five percent gross margin, it will increase to at least 20 percent following the upgrade, Ang noted.

In the second quarter of the year, Petron grew its net income 300 percent to P3.2 billion from P789 million in the same period in 2014.