Petron Corporation, the country’s largest oil firm, has resumed operations of its 180,000-barrel per day refinery in Limay, Bataan after nearly four months.
Based on a BusinessMirror report, Petron President and CEO Ramon Ang confirmed on Monday that the oil giant’s refinery and petrochemical facilities have been up and running. Ang further said that the country’s only remaining refinery restarted commercial operations on June 1, affirming a pronouncement he made during the company’s annual stockholders meeting in May.
The company first announced that it would close the refinery in early December over what Ang called “unfair” taxation. The facility’s economic shutdown eventually pushed through last February 10 and was supposed to reopen this July. Before this, the refinery paused its operations last in May, which contributed to the drop in the country’s refining output last year.
Petron was able to secure several tax breaks since the shutdown’s announcement. Among these is the refinery’s inclusion in the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) in late December and the passage of Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act in March.
On Monday also, the oil giant announced in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it plans to issue up to Php50 billion in fixed rate bonds in one or more tranches. The planned bond issuance wold begin with an initial offer of up to Php18 billion. The company has applied for the bonds’ shelf registration and offer with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Photo from Petron/Oil&Gas Journal.