Petron Corp. reports 70% bottom line drop in Jan.-Sept.

Petron Corp. on Tuesday reported a 70% decline in bottom line during the first nine months of the year, dragged by the emergency shutdown of its Bataan Refinery in April.

The company booked a net income of P3.6 billion in January to September.

“This is down 70% from the same period last year owing to prolonged depressed refining margins in the region and its refinery shutdown," the company said.

Revenue dropped 9% to P381.7 billion, as sales volume dropped 7%.

The Bataan refinery, which has a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day, was temporarily shut down in April for scheduled repairs. It resumed operations in August.

“Despite the decrease in Philippine volumes, the company noted its stations in freeport zones performed better than last year,” said Petron.

“Under the current regime, enterprises like service stations within freeport zones like Clark and Subic do not pay local and national taxes, including excise taxes,” it added.

Wholly-owned subsidiary Petron Freeport Corporation (PFC), which manages its stations inside the Subic Freeport Zone, reported a 20% net income growth in the first semester.

“This level playing field is what we hope will prevail in the entire country once the fuel marking program is in place. We fully support and look forward to its implementation but at the same time, we reiterate that this mechanism will only work if all players go by the same rules,” said Petron president and CEO Ramon S. Ang.

The government earlier this year conducted fuel marking simulation, which was announced by the government in 2017 to address oil smuggling into the Philippines.

“Oil smuggling has worsened in recent years and it’s not only us in the industry but also the government and the entire nation that suffer because of it,” Ang said.