From mammoth losses incurred in the first semester, leading oil firm Petron Corporation bounced back with P1.63 billion net income in the third quarter of this year and that was propelled mainly by stronger performance on the retail segment of its business.

The oil firm classified that it was still “a modest recovery”, although that was definitely a far cry from the P14.2 billion net loss it has been racked with from January-June; when oil markets were hitting turbulence because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, the financial upturn in July to September trimmed Petron’s net loss to P12.6 billion in the initial three quarters – but it remained poles apart versus last year’s income of P3.6 billion in the same period.

The oil firm’s consolidated revenues in the first nine months likewise dipped by substantial 43-percent to P216.4 billion from P381.7 billion in the same period in 2019.

Petron emphasized “year-to-date performance continue to bear the impact of the significant 40-percent drop in domestic volume and the P13 billion inventory losses during the first four months of the lockdown.”

The oil firm stated that the refining component of its business is still wobbling from squeezed margins, but the retail side is already picking up because of the Philippine economy’s re-opening.

Petron President and CEO Ramon S. Ang qualified that “while the oil industry continues to face major challenges, we are beginning to see signs of recovery.”

He added the resuscitation of the country’s tourism sector could also prompt demand hike for aviation fuel; which is a sub-segment of the downstream oil industry that suffered extremely in the last seven months; starting when the lockdown was first imposed in mid-March.

“Aside from retail, we can also expect the reopening of local tourism to influence higher demand for aviation fuel which really took a hit because of the pandemic,” the Petron chief executive said.

Beyond the outcome of its Philippine operations, Ang noted the robust sales volume that the company logged in Malaysia further underpins the rebound on its top and bottom lines.

Ang pointed out “with our judicious use of resources, we are determined to expedite our overall recovery,” with him stressing that the overall target is to “minimize the pandemic’s impact on our business, and deliver more positive results.”

The oil firm reiterated that it had seen sales volume improve “as quarantine restrictions become more relaxed and economic activities pick up in the third quarter after months of decline due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Within the third quarter, the oil firm indicated that consolidated retail volume for both domestic and the Malaysian market jumped by 48.6-percent if compared to the slump it suffered from in the second quarter.

In particular, sales volume in the Philippines had been higher by 33-percent as most of its retail stations have already been operating under normal hours since August this year.

But if reckoned on a nine-month period, aggregate volume still posted a contraction of 24-percent to 59.5 million barrels as against 78.7 million barrels in the same period last year.