The country’s biggest oil firm Petron Corp. is seeking incentives with the Board of Investments (BoI) for its P572-million investments for the improvement of its 35 year-old grease plant to enhance efficiency and to meet environmental regulations.
Petron is a joint venture between the Saudi petroleum corporation Aramco and the Philippine National Oil Co. Its board of directors is headed by Nicasio Alcan-tara as chairman.
Based on its application, the new investment would be used to improve the efficiency and reliability of the grease plant.
Once the enhancement measure is implemented, this will result in the reduction in equipment breakdown and a more environment-friendly plant.
Earlier, the oil firm giant had registered with the BoI for its
P9.7 billion investments in three projects in its refinery plant in Limay, Bataan.
The huge amount was used for the production of more value-added products for export and achieving fuel efficiency of its fuel output.
BoI granted the three projects with income tax holidays, one percent duty on the imported capital equipment among others.
The three projects include a
P4.826 billion investment for the production of propylene; the P3.306 billion for the production of benzene and toluene, aromatics (classified as petrochemical products), and the P1.61 billion production of mixed xylene for exports.
For the
P4.826 billion project, Petron aims to produce propylene, a monomer that is also a by- product in fuel production, at a capacity of 126,000 metric tons per year (MTPY) for both the export and use of the downstream plastics products manufacturers.
For the
P3.306 billion investment, Petron is putting up a recovery plant that would enable them to recover benzene and toluene (aromatics). The BoI granted pioneer incentives to this particular project, meaning a long ITH of six years, because this is the first of its kind to be established in the country.
The new facility has a capacity of producing 13,770 MTPY of benzene and 114,300 MTPY of toluene.
Petron’s third project costing
P1.61 billion involves the production of mixed xylene for the exports market. The oil firm expects to produce 135,900 MTPY of mixed xylene.
At present, Petron is the country’s largest oil refiner with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and can process imported oil into a full range of petroleum products.
Petron also operates a fully automated lubeoil blending plant in Pandacan, considered as the biggest and most advanced of its kind in the country.
