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MANILA, Philippines - Petron Corp. expects this year's profit to hit P10 billion provided oil prices stabilize and don't fall below $100 a barrel.
"The problem with Petron is when world oil prices are going down and you have a lot of inventory, you will incur losses. If world oil prices are stable then the results should be better in the next three quarters," Ramon Ang, Petron chairman and chief executive officer, said on the sidelines of the company's annual stockholders meeting on Tuesday. The oil refiner-retailer earned P8.5 billion last year.
The guidance earnings is on top of the additional profit Petron would rake in from its Malaysian unit, which will be consolidated into the Philippine company's books in the second half.
Newly-acquired Esso Malaysia Berhad's (EMB) revenues is estimated at roughly half of Petron's sales, which hit P274 billion in 2011.
"Our guidance is almost half of what Petron is doing. So it is estimated to be half of what we could at least make this year," Ang said.
He said Petron is also keen on increasing its stake in EMB, which the Philippine company acquired from oil giant Exxon Mobil for $610 million.
Petron purchased 65 percent of EMB but subsequently increased its shareholdings to 73 percent in a mandatory tender offer.
"There are a lot of requests from the public who were not able to take advantage of the first tender offer. We will check again with SEC of Malaysia to make another of tender offer when it is necessary," Ang said.
EMB, which will be renamed to Petron, operates an 88,000-barrel-per-day refinery and over 500 fuel stations in Malaysia.
In the Philippines, Petron aims to open 1,000 new fuel stations this year.
"We have about 2,000 as of December 2011 and we hope to reach close to 3,000 by the end of 2012," Ang said.
As for its Bataan refinery, Ang said the upgrade of the 180,000 barrel-a-day facility would be completed by end-2014.
Once completed, Petron can process crude from different sources and at the same time convert refining by-products into petrochemicals.
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