By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, Sept 17 (PNA) – Petron Corp’s upgraded refinery has reached 98 percent of its recovery ahead of their 2016 expectations, said San Miguel Corp (SMC) president and chief operating officer (COO) Ramon Ang.
”We were expecting the refinery to reach 98-percent recovery by next year, but it seems that on Sept. 2015 we have achieved it already. We believe this commissioning will achieve the target capacity and target efficiency,” he said.
The president noted the refinery’s new crude oil recovery of 98.7 percent is far from its initial recovery of 67 percent.
With the modernization of the refinery, Ang added Petron Corp. will still gain despite the low oil prices prevailing in the global markets.
Ang explained Petron Corp. will have a 20-percent gross margin from the sales of the refinery, a significant increase from the old refinery’s gross margin of 3-5 percent.
However, the president stressed the profit from the refinery will still be seen next year.
The USD 2 billion project, better known as Refinery Master Plan Phase 2 (RMP-2) based in Limay, Bataan, will allow Petron to produce 180,000 barrels per day including the mandate Euro-4 standard fuels.
The modernized refinery will also increase Petron’s production of petrochemicals.
Petron, a subsidiary of SMC, currently has 2,800 stations in the Philippines and Malaysia, but also has plans to build another 300 stations. (PNA)