But the company indicated that its operating income inched up to P9.91 billion last year, registering a 2.0 percent jump from P9.73 billion registered in 2006.

The oil firm noted that its operating income increased due to improved operating efficiencies and from higher sales volume for the domestic market.

Petron president Kamal M. Al-Yahya said the company thrived "despite a difficult business environment," as it focused on key initiatives "to cement our market leadership and sustain our growth momentum."

It was also last year that Petron’s income tax holiday privilege from its mixed xylene facility had lapsed.

With the scheduled commercial operation of its PetroFluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC), the company is expecting that this will contribute positively on its financial performance starting this year.

"The start-up of these units signals the beginning of Petron’s petrochemical age. We expect that our new petrochemical feedstocks will significantly contribute to our bottom line immediately," Petron chairman and chief executive officer Nicasio I. Alcantara said.

This will also set the stage for the company’s further diversification into petrochemicals as it pursues some strategic transformation programs.

From the figures released though, the company’s sales revenues was trimmed down to P210.52 billion in 2007 from the year-ago level of P211.73 billion.

For the period, Petron disclosed that it was able to jack up its 2007 domestic sales volume by 2.0-percent to 41.81 million barrels from 41.06 million barrels the previous year.

If overall sales would be factored in, including exports, the total volume increased to 52.23 million barrels last year from 51.97 million in 2006.

Amid intensifying market competition, Petron noted that it managed to sustain its dominance as an industry player with 38.9-percent share in the market.

The company’s ‘frontline power’ is also seen to be continuously evolving, as it introduced two new products to its customers last year.

These are the enhanced XCS Plus, the first gasoline in the Philippines to have organic combustion enhancers; and the Sprint 4T which is specifically formulated for four-stroke motorcycles to provide optimum engine protection.

The year 2007 also marked the company’s acquisition ventures, including that of the LPG business of Chevron. This shored up its share in the LPG market by roughly 25percent.