Motorists line up at a Petron gas station. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News file photo
MANILA - Petron posted a net income of P1.73 billion in the first quarter of the year, a reversal of its P4.9 billion net loss in the same period last year.
The country’s biggest oil firm added that its performance in the first 3 months of the year was better than the P1.2 billion net income in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Last year, Petron booked a net loss of P11.4 billion as the COVID-19 pandemic cratered fuel demand.
“While Petron’s total sales performance for the first three months continued to improve compared to the average of the last three quarters of 2020, it still reflected the demand destruction from the pandemic,” the company said.
Petron said that while consolidated revenues decreased 20 percent to P83.3 billion from P104.62 billion a year ago, the company recorded inventory gains this quarter due to the recent improvements in international oil prices in contrast with the inventory loss in 2020.
This allowed Petron to book P3.7 billion in operating income coming from its P4.4 billion operating loss in the same period last year.
“With the country’s vaccination program gaining more ground, we feel confident about our prospects and have, in fact, scheduled the resumption of our refining operations this June,” said Petron President and CEO Ramon Ang.
Petron said it has set aside P11 billion for its 2021 CAPEX which covers the on-going construction of steam generator plants, strategic retail network expansion, and maintenance requirements.
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