By Myrna M. Velasco
Propped mainly by higher revenues and sales volume growth, the consolidated net income of leading oil industry player Petron Corporation rose 16-percent to P9.5 billion in the first half from the year-ago level of P8.2 billion.
Ramon S. Ang
For both of its market operations in the Philippines and Malaysia, the aggregate revenues logged by the company had been 32-percent higher to P273.5 billion from January-June this 2018 from last year’s P207 billion.
In terms of operating income, Petron posted 15.6 billion in the initial six months, roughly 6.0-percent higher from last year’s P14.6 billion.
According to the oil company, that was mainly on sustained sales volumes at its two core markets – with overall sales climbing to 54.4 million barrels.
Higher crude prices, which averaged at US$68 per barrel for the period, also shored up the company’s revenues; Along with what had been seen as strengthening of the Malaysian ringgit versus foreign currencies.
As asserted by Petron President and CEO Ramon S. Ang, the oil firm intends “to fortify our leadership position as we ride on the continued economic growth of the Philippine and Malaysian markets.”
To achieve that, he noted that Petron will “continue to integrate our value chain, build up our supply and logistics capabilities; and roll out more service stations than our competitors.”
For the Philippine market in particular, the oil firm noted that it continually focuses on “other high-margin products,” primarily on petrochemicals that had been generating strong sales turnout. That segment posted a growth of 14-percent in the first half this year.
In the Malaysian market, the company registered 7.0-percent sales volume growth, primarily at its retail portfolio. It expounded that this is being reinforced by its rolling network expansion.
Petron’s retail network in Malaysia was already beefed up to 620 service stations to-date; while its Philippine operations cover at least 2,400 gasoline stations.